FRIENDSHIP
by J7339
Summary: The SeaQuest had been ordered to help evacuate a collapsing mining community in the Indian Ocean. Lucas meets a friend he hasn't seen in a long time and can't believe his luck. FINALLY FINISHED !
1. Default Chapter

**FRIENDSHIP**

**Warning – this story may get a little darker towards the end.  No hints to ruin the plot but be prepared**

**for**** new ending…………………**

Lucas Wolenczak couldn't help smile at the contents of the e-mail that he had just received.  He was careful to make

sure that no one else was reading over his shoulder thought.  The last thing he needed was to get chewed out over

his hacking into files he didn't normally have access to.

But right at this very moment he felt on top of the world.  He had just learned a piece of information that made him

grin from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat.

He had closed down the top of his laptop computer but was startled from his day dream when there was a loud

knock on the door to his cramped and small quarters.

"None today thanks" he said in a cheeky voice.

Ben Krieg stuck his dark-haired head through the door as he now opened it without the welcoming invitation "You

know Lucas you could be nicer to me you know" he said in a joking manner.

"Why?" Lucas shot back with a blank look crossing his face in mockery.

"Why you" Ben said as he leapt through the door and now playfully punched the teenager in the arm for his outburst.

"Captain says he wants to see you in the ward room pronto" Ben now said turning the conversation more serious.

"Says he wants you there A.S.A.P. if not sooner."

"Lucas to the rescue again" the teenager said a little dejectedly.  The crew rarely involved them in their meetings unless

something was wrong with the computer equipment aboard the boat.  Then is was good work Lucas, go away now

until the next time we have a problem Lucas.  At least that is how it felt some times.

"What did someone break this time?" Lucas asked in a sarcastic tone.

"I don't know, but whatever it is it's all very hush hush" Ben said in all seriousness.   Whatever was happening, nobody

was telling him either.

"Come on then, let's go and put in an appearance before they come looking for us." Lucas said as he got up from his

chair, making sure that his e-mail was carefully stored away from prying eyes.  

Lucas used his normal, slouched, hands in pockets stance to make his way down the corridor to the ward room with

Ben.

He knocked lightly on the door and opened it when he heard a voice telling him to come in.

"Oh good, you here" Bridger said as he gave the teenager a grateful smile for turning up as soon as he was asked to.

It was common knowledge that although Lucas was often caught running through the corridors of the ship at a frightening

pace at time.  There were other times when the kid was as equally stubborn about slowly his pace to barely a crawl.

Most of the time deliberately to show his displeasure at something or to mock the orders he received from the more

senior members of the crew.

Lucas looked around the room and saw the usual faces.  Commander Jonathan Ford with his serious no nonsense

exterior.  Doctor Kristen Westphalen, Katie Hitchcock, Miguel Ortiz and Tim O'Neill.  Ben found an empty seat and

also joined the party.

"You wanted to see me about something?" Lucas enquired before he sat down anywhere.

"Yes, Admiral Noyce will be on-line to the room in just a few minutes and he asked everybody be here for what he

had to say.  He also left specific instructions that you were to be included in the meeting Lucas" Bridger explained.

"What does the Admiral want with me?" Lucas asked innocently.  He had a feeling though he already secretly knew

what the Admiral was going to talk to him and the rest of the crew about.

"I don't know Lucas.  He is being a little secretive about the whole operation.  He just insisted that you be included,

so find a chair and we will find out in a few minutes" Bridger said.

Lucas found a chair at the small table nearest the Captain and open enough to see the video link screen.

Tim O'Neill was working the video-link controls "Captain, I have Admiral Noyce on the line now" he informed 

them.

"Put him on the main screen Mr O'Neill" Bridger instructed him.  

"Greetings Nathan, everyone.  Hello Lucas" the Admiral now said as he looked about at the audience before him.

Lucas looked a little embarrassed that the Admiral chose to pick him out of the whole group in particular.  "Hi 

Admiral" he said back in a soft voice.

"I suppose you are all wondering what I am going to talk to you about and why we have been playing our cards

close to our chest?" the Admiral now said as he began to explain his reason for calling.

"Well, as you may or may not know there is a small mining community in the Landau Trench in the Indianan Ocean

called the Landau Munitions Depot.  The place has been maintained to a very high level over the last couple of decades

through private sponsorship, donations and U.E.O. monies.  But recently, the engineers have become increasingly

alarmed at the stability of where the mining structure itself sits on the ocean floor.  Seasonal changes in the current

have caused some of the bedrock around the facility to start to cave in on the outside of the supports."

"Are they trying to fix the problem Sir?" Jonathan Ford now asked, interrupting the Admiral's speech.

"They tried to Commander, but after pouring more money into the problem, and the structure itself getting more and

more weaker all the time.  The engineers have reached the difficult decision that the structure must be abandoned

before it collapses altogether."

"But there are a lot of people down there Admiral.  Families, scientists, not to mention some of our own U.E.O.

staff" Kristen now said alarmed at such a drastic course of action being taken.

"We know that Doctor Westphalen, that's what SeaQuest has been asked to do.    Move all of those people and

their belongings out of there in a safe time frame.  I admit it's a large scale job and looks like taking the best part

of a week to do.  But under the circumstances, we don't have any other choices.  The people have to be moved

to safer facilities or they could find themselves trapped by the collapsing building inside."

Bridger's mind was already ticking over about what supplies and tactical knowledge they would need before taking

on such a massive rescue operation.  Taking the people off the mining depot wasn't a major problem.  Space aboard

might become a little cramped until the people could be moved up-world, but there were other things to take into

account.  One of the most important factors to take into consideration was the mining depot's most dangerous

cargo.

"What about the toxic substances they hold there Bill?" Bridger now asked, voicing Commander Ford unspoken words.

"I know what you are thinking Nathan" Admiral Noyce replied.  "That's why I called you to do the job.  As you know,

the mining depot itself is protected from the harsh actions of the outside currents by a hard outer shell.  That shell is 

designed not only to keep it's population inside, but also it's not too nice things as well such as noxious gases and

radioactive wastes."

"When you go to the mining community, you will have to be careful about not releasing any of those substances onto

the ocean floor.  Once the structure has collapsed in on itself, that shell should be enough to prevent such a leakage

in the future.   Once you go aboard the community, I strongly urge you to make sure that you only make one trip.

Make sure that you don't keep coming back in and out of the vacuum seal of the station's docking back.  It will only

cause the structure to become weaker again and it may hamper your efforts to get those people out in an orderly

fashion.  They will have a lot of equipment that they want to take with them, but it will be up to your crew Nathan to

ensure that they only take was personally belongs to them and what is most important.  Once in other, more safe

facilities, they will be able to carry out the experiments and other work that they did on the depot.  But for now, the

main focus has to be in getting them off the station safely before it collapses."

"Lucas, this is where you come into the picture" Admiral Noyce now said as he turned to face the teenager.  "That

station has a lot of computer equipment.  Like I said we are not concerned with taking any of the hard ware with us,

but I need you to look at each and every terminal in there and back up onto chips, what information is stored in those

memory banks.  I know that is going to be a big job and probably you will be the only one aboard who knows how

to tackle it" he continued to say.

Lucas was mulling over what he knew about the station's computer and how long it would take to successfully save

the data from each computer.  Even for someone with his computer expertise, asking for it to be done in under a week

was almost an impossibility, no matter how much he hated to admit.

"I don't know if I can do it alone in that time Sir" Lucas now said, a little dejected at having to voice the concern for

his inability to complete the assigned task on time.  "There will be days worth of work.  Maybe more than a week."

"Don't worry Lucas.  I have taken all of that into consideration.  That's why I went out and found you the best computer

partner I could lay my hands on at the time" Admiral Noyce said with a grin.  He truly thought that he was about to

spring the surprise of the century on the SeaQuest's resident computer whiz.  What he didn't know was they Lucas

was already privy to his little surprise partner.  He would just choose not to reveal what he knew at this time.

Bridger and the others in the room had a confused look on their faces when the Admiral spoke about having a partner

join Lucas in tackling the upcoming computer download on the Landau Mining Depot.   Why hadn't the Admiral

spoke to him about getting someone else to help Lucas.  Bridger didn't know if he liked the idea of someone new

working with the teenager when there was so much at risk already.

Lucas decided to try and get the Admiral to admit the identity of the newcomer that he was aware of.  "Who did you

get?" he asked plainly and simply.  He tried to keep up appearances by showing a little disapproval on his face and

a little contriteness for them not believing in his computer abilities.

"Ah, all will be revealed in a little while Lucas.  I don't want to spoil the surprise, but just let's say that it is somebody

that you will be familiar with.  Somebody from your past" the Admiral said, still appearing pleased with his surprise.

"I have arranged for him to dock at the SeaQuest via shuttle within the next half an hour" the Admiral now said. 

"Nathan, there is no time to loose.  Once this certain individual is aboard and settled, I want you to make you way as

quickly as possible towards the mining community and start making arrangements for evacuating those people off that

thing.  I will keep in touch with you through the whole operation and don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything."

"Oh and good luck Lucas" the Admiral finished off saying and then quickly terminated the communication before anybody

had a chance to ask anymore questions.

Bridger and the others looked at Lucas, trying to look for a clue as to who this mystery person was.  Lucas was sitting

in a thinking pose, trying to act as though he was digging back into his memories and trying to remember someone who

was as good with computers as he was.    

He looked up and saw everybody looking at him.  "Don't ask me.  I don't know of anybody else out there who is as

good as me, do you?" he said and got up from the chair and ready to head to the door.  He was almost bursting with

anticipation at meeting this person.

The rest of the crew was left to ponder his question.  When it came right down to it, they just couldn't think of anybody

that the Admiral would have been able to find that was as good with computer electronics as Lucas.  Who was it?

"I don't think I like all this secrecy" Commander Ford now said aloud in defeat and headed off to the bridge in a huff

about not being told anything.  A few of the others were nodding their heads in acknowledgement.

***************************************************************************************

Almost an hour later, Lucas was nervously pacing the deck right outside the launch bay waiting for the shuttle to arrive

with it's surprise guest.  The rest of the SeaQuest had also gathered to find out who was joining their ranks.  The more

Lucas paced, the more nervous they all became about the whole thing as well.

Bridger had told the teenager a few times that things would be alright.  He had also asked if Lucas recalled who the

mystery person could be.  Lucas kept up his playing dumb and shook his head in a negative response.

"If you don't mind Captain.  If this is someone from my past, when they first arrive, I would appreciate it if everybody

else stayed back a little.   It's just that I am a bit nervous about who this could be.  I am starting to think that I really

don't want to meet this person" Lucas now said to Bridger.

"Okay Lucas, but we will all be here, waiting.  If you are not comfortable with whoever it is, just say so.  Admiral

Noyce may think he has hired a new crew member temporarily, but they have to get my rubber stamp of approval

before boarding my boat" he said with a grin.  Bridger was determined to be true to his word though.  One word from

Lucas about not wanting to work with this forced new partner and he would just send the shuttle up-world again and

they would manage on their own.

"Docking Bay Three now receiving Shuttle M712" the voice said over the loud speaker.   The crew could hear the

sea doors retracting back and allowing the remaining sea water to drain from the compartment before allowing the

shuttle's passengers to gain access to the entry ladder.   From where they all stood, they had a full and clear view of

all of Lucas's facial expressions and movements.

Lucas sighed loudly but now walked quite a way forward towards the docking bay so that there was a good ten

to fifteen metres between him and the rest of the crew.  He was about to give the performance of his life…………

The crew could now see the darkened head of a young male as he climbed the later towards the top and enter the

SeaQuest.  The young man couldn't have been much older than Lucas's 17 years.  The crew looked from the face

of the stranger to that of their fellow crew member to see if there was any sign of recognition there.  Unfortunately

it became painfully obvious that Lucas obviously knew the identity of the person standing but a few metres away.

It was now that they heard the nasty conversation between the two teenagers take place………..

"Well I'll be" the dark-haired youth began to say as he started he own performance.  He had gotten a brief wink

from Lucas as he climbed the ladder and they both knew the cue lines.   "Boy the U.E.O. must really be desperate

for sailors if they had to ask you join Wolenczak".

This was the first clue to the SeaQuest crew that the dark-haired boy recognized Lucas.

"Looks like they did a little bit more digging under the garbage too" Lucas spat back with venom etched in his voice.

He sounded like he was trying to hold himself back from saying something much worse.

Lucas now started to turn away from the other boy and head back up towards the rest of the crew "If he comes

aboard this boat, I am leaving" he now threatened.  There was not one of the crew that didn't honestly believe what

the lighter-haired teenager was saying.  They could see anger written all over Lucas's faced.  An emotion rarely seen

on him.  His blue eyes flashed and his face almost turned into a mask.

Bridger was about to walk forward and try and calm things down when the rebuttal came from the other youth.

"What's the matter Wolenczak………………. chicken" the other boy said with the utmost mockery towards Lucas.

It was now that the SeaQuest really feared things were going to get out of control.   Lucas had stopped dead in his

tracks at the scathing words.  His face now darkened even more if that was possible and he began walking back 

towards the other boy with deliberate intentions on his mind.  Ben and the others took a step forward, ready to

break up the impending fight that was about to take place.  They had never known Lucas to be this angry towards

anybody.   

Lucas now got close enough to the other boy to grab a hold of the front of his shirt and shout forcefully into his face

"Anytime you think you are good enough Shepherd".   

Ben went pale as he swore that Lucas was going to take a swing at the other boy with a clenched fist.  Bridger

had started to move towards the pair again but could see he was too far away to avoid something happening.

Lucas turned and made sure that the whole crew was watching as he brought he hand up high in the air and

clench his hand into a fist as tight as he could.  He held it there in mid-air for a few seconds and then started to

swing it towards the other boy's unprotected face.

"This is for all the old times" Lucas now said his words sounding ominous.    Ben and the others gasped out aloud

and were shouting at Lucas not to be foolish when they saw the hand change at the last minute and instead of

Lucas punching the other boy, his arms now went around his shoulder in a bear hug.

"It's great to see you Shep" Lucas now said, his voice taking on a totally different tone.  He now had the biggest

grin on his face at his friend and towards the crew of the SeaQuest as he gave away his knowledge about who

the newcomer was.

"You too Lucas" Shep replied and returned the awkward embrace.   "I can't believe I get the chance to work

with you again, after all these years"

"Ah-hem" Bridger now said from behind Lucas.  He had now gotten over his heart attack about the two teenager's

meeting and knew that he and the rest of the crew had been had.  It now seemed that Lucas and his friend had

known each other for a long time.

"I guess you will be wanting some explanations and an introduction" Lucas said to the Captain in his best innocent

voice.

"Lucas Wolenczak you should be put over my knee and given a stern spanking for scaring me and everybody

else like that" Kristen now said as she worked her way through the crew.  

"I was going to explain everything, honest" Lucas said sheepishly and ducked as Kristen through a mock punch

of her own.  It never got close to it's intended target but she wasn't sure that her heart could take a fright like

that again.

"That would be nice Lucas" Bridger replied.  He had wanted to give the kid a piece of his own mind for the anguish

that he had caused the Captain.  

"Captain, Kristen everybody, this is Joshua Shepherd, Shep for short.  Me and he go way back.  Back to when  
I went to college" Lucas now said.  Although they were only just young men, college seemed like so long ago to

both of them.

"You mean he's real smart like you?" Krieg now asked.

"Yep, and together we probably have a bigger IQ than this whole crew" Lucas said as he looked back at his friend

and grinned widely again.  He could scarcely belief that Shep was here.  He would have to remind himself to thank

the Admiral endlessly when he got the chance.

"That's just great" Ben said sarcastically.  None of them understood the boy genius in the first place.  Now there 

were to of them not to understand.

"Hi" Shep said.  "Sorry if we scared you all.  I just had to make sure that Lucas here know who is boss when I am

around" he said playfully.  He got the reaction he wanted as Lucas let his mouth gape at the comment and then

shut again as he started to jab and poke at his friend for his outburst.  The two of them looked like peas on a pod.

"Come on I'll show you to my room and then we can sort out who is Boss" Lucas said as he grabbed one of 

Shep's arms and led him through the sea of onlookers.  His mind was on other things at the moment, going back over

old times.  He didn't notice the strange and confusing looks he was getting from his fellow crewmembers as he

started towards his room.

"Two of them" Kristen said from behind Nathan.  She was truly pleased to see Lucas so happy about a boy-hood

friend.  Lord knew that Lucas could do with a few more friends his own age.

"Oh Boy" Bridger commented and rolled his eyes as if to demonstrate what sort of mayhem was going to happen

aboard over the next week.  He too couldn't get over how happy Lucas looked with his old time friend.

AUTHORS NOTES ………………. Okay gang.  I know I haven't really explained what is going to happen

yet.  I just wanted to build up the meeting between Lucas and his old friend first.  Don't worry things will get a might

more sticky when they get to the depot.  I took the name from the episode Brothers and Sisters for the depot.

Lucas has another person to meet again once he goes to the mining community.  Unfortunately for him that meeting

won't be as happy as the one between him and Shep.  You will just have to wait and see who it is going to be (Not

Lawrence).  


	2. CHAPTER 2

**FRIENDSHIP**

Lucas and his friends from the SeaQuest were assembled in one of the relaxing TV rooms of the vessel.   Usually the space was used by crew members wanting to wide down after their shifts.  Due to it's size, today it was being used for the SeaQuest

crew to get a little more acquainted with Lucas's new friend Shep.

All of them had enjoyed a large meal put on to welcome to newest crew member, but now they were all intrigued to quiz

the pair about how they met and what they had done in the past.

Bridger and a couple of the others noted silently that they hadn't seen Lucas this happy in a long time.  Every time they

looked at the blond-haired teenager at the moment, his face was split from ear to ear with a silly grin on his face and it was

usually due to some joke that he or Shep shared.

Lucas was now just coming back into the room with another round of drinks for everybody when he heard whales of 

laughter coming from inside.

"I hope your not giving all our secrets away Shep" Lucas now said in fun.

"So tell us Lucas, Shep, just were did you two meet?" Bridger said, his curiosity about this long term friendship getting

the better of him.  He had never heard Lucas mention Shep's name in the past.  If they were such good friends, why

all the secrecy?

Shep looked at Lucas as he took his place beside him again on one of the large couches in the room.  The seating was

arranged in a large crude circle so that everybody could see each other and join in on the conversation if necessary.

Shep was sitting to Lucas's right, Bridger to his left.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate that he didn't mind their secret becoming public.   He knew that he had

never shared this friendship information with anybody from the crew.  The friendship was just one that had grown over

a long period of time and he cherished it more than ever.  Due to the distance between him and Shep, the topic just

never seemed to come out in casual conversation.  Lucas and Shep usually communicated through e-mail late at night

when everybody else was in bed or working.

"Well, Lucas and I went to Stanford College from the age of 14 as you know" Shep began  "We were like the odd

pair.  Everybody else was a lot older then us and we just didn't seemed to fit in or be welcome in any of the college

groups, so we became friends."

"It must have been difficult for you two at fourteen to be going to college" Kristen now said.  She had never really 

taken the time to sit down with Lucas and ask him about how he coped at college at such a young age.  She always

got the impression that it was a time he would rather not relive with memories.

"Oh yeah, but we kept ourselves amused with extra curricular activities" Lucas said with another big grin as he looked

at Shep.  The two of them rarely had to say anything. They just seemed to know what the other was going to say.

"Extra curricular activities?" Ben Krieg now asked, sensing the mirth in the words.   He knew his own days at college

and the U.E.O. Military Academy had such activities etched into them.  Most of them would rather forget.  There were

even a couple of incidents with the Captain's son Robert which he would never breathe a word of.

"Oh man, you have no idea of some of the mischief we got up to" Shep said with pride.  They had been some of the

most fun times he had ever had.

"You remember about the grass and the fence line Shep?" Lucas now said as his mind took him back.   He eyes were

sparkling with the laughter he felt at that moment.

"Do I ever" Shep replied, both of them then seeing the looks of the crew that said they needed to explain.

"Well you see" Lucas said as he began telling about this incident "The college had a lot of areas that they were trying

to grow grass on.  They had them roped off so you weren't supposed to walk on them, but we did anyway.  The fence

line of the college was some 500 metres beyond the back of the buildings.  Anyway after a while the teachers got

mad about students walking across the young grass.  They told us that we had to walk _"All the way around" if we_

wanted to get to class.  So for the next week or so we would walk the entire 500 metres down to the back fence and

all the way around the perimeter of the college campus  to get to the next building.  Needless to say we ended up being 

about 10 minutes late for each class.  When the teachers confronted us about walking around we just told them "You 

said to walk all the way around".  By the time he finished the story, he and Shep were laughing and so were most of the 

crew members seated in the circle.  None of the crew members could ever being that bold back in their school years.

"Quite the little comics weren't you" Bridger said to the pair.  He had come secret incidents of his own that he would

rather not reveal so he couldn't say anything too harshly about Lucas's and his friend's behaviour in days gone by.

"You don't know the half of it" Shep now said.  "Hey Lucas you remember about the substitute teacher?"

"Oh yeah" Lucas said as another memory was suddenly pulled from his brain's archives.  He knew he would have to

explain the story also.  "There was this teacher, a woman, who wasn't really a teacher.  She wasn't much more than

a baby-sitter when the regular teacher was away.  So anyway, one day she walks into our class and says "I am your

substitute teacher today children".

"What did you do Lucas" Miguel Ortiz now asked.

"We all got up and walked out" Lucas said and then started to laugh again at his mischievous adventures.

"Sounds like you two had a ball.  They sound like such great pranks for amateurs." Ben said with a smirk of his own.

"Amateurs" Shep said in amazement.  "Man I haven't met you for too long yet, but when it comes to pranks, Lucas here is your man.  He is the best man.   Remember Mr Woodcock's car Lucas?" he now asked, tracing back over old steps again.

Lucas felt himself go slightly red at this memory.  Although it was a good prank at the time, like Ben, it was one he

would rather forget.   Now thinking back about it these few years, it didn't sound like a real nice thing to do to

someone.  But then again it was Mr Woodcock.  A teacher who had been the very thorn in his side during his college

years.  Mr Woodcock and Lucas never saw eye to eye.  Lucas didn't know if the teacher was jealous of his intelligence

or the fact that he had two people in his class that shouldn't have been out of high school.  Maybe there was yet another

reason that he had never been able to put his finger on.

"What did you do Lucas?" Kristen asked with a probing expression on her face.  This just made Lucas try and sink into

his chair even more.  He felt like the kid who had been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar and was now being asked

what he was doing.

Shep decided to tell the tale since Lucas was still trying to cover up his embarrassment.  "We had this teacher, 

Mr Woodcock that absolutely just had it in for us.  It didn't matter what we did and how good we were at the work,

he just went out of his way to remind us that we shouldn't have been in his class.    Anyway, one day when Lucas just

got sick of the insults, we secretly drilled a hole in the floor of the classroom.  We concealed the hole with the desk.

"Do I dare ask what the hole was for?" Bridger asked dreading what he was about to hear.  It couldn't be anything

good he surmised.  

"Well, after the hole was made, one day we poured a whole bottle of constructive adhesive into it.  Then over the

next couple of hours, very discreetly we then proceeded to push little balls of paper down the hole as well." Shep

said, barely able to continue to tell the story without going off into fits of laughter.   Lucas still had a very red hue

to his face about the whole thing.

"I still don't get it" Tim O'Neill said with confusion on his face.   The prank sounded slightly messy, but nothing

over the top.

"Well" Shep added, "Our classroom was a two-storey building as just happened to be built over the teacher's

car park.   When we went to see where the glue and paper had landed, we couldn't help but notice that it all landed

on one car in particular."

"Let me guess" Commander Ford said as he assumed the end of the tale "Mr Woodcock's car".

The laughter that came from Lucas and Shep only confirmed his guess to the rest of the crew.

"Well when you two think you are good enough to contend with the King of Pranks" Ben Krieg now said as he 

got up and excused himself so that he could start his night shift.  

Ben however had left the room by the time every body else saw a certain look on the faces of Lucas and Shep

that signalled a war was about to begin…………

"Oh boy, I don't think I want to know" Captain Bridger now said as he saw Lucas and Shep.  You could almost

see the pair of them with their minds already ticking over about what to do to Ben.

Lucas forgot about the war for a minute but suddenly had another question in mind that came from the past.  He

turned to Shep and asked "Did you bring it?"

Shep immediately knew what his friend meant "Did you think I wouldn't" he replied and started to dig around in

the pocket of his jacket for the mystery object.

The people now left in the room now watched in anticipation as they saw Shep pulled out a small metal looking

thing.  Upon closer inspection, it was a small blue and chrome harmonica. 

"Bluie"  Shep said proudly as he introduced his inanimate object to the SeaQuest crew.

"Bluie?" Bridger asked in puzzlement.  

"Short for the Blues" Shep asked and then primed his mouth up.   The crew were then rewarded with the slow,

distinctive sound of the harmonica playing a blues tune.  "My grandfather was into the blues years and years ago.

When he died, he left me the harmonica.  I play it all the time.  Especially when I was in college.  

"Did you learn to play it too Lucas?" Kristen now asked.

"Huh, Lucas play this.  No way.   He is not allowed within 100 feet of this beautiful instrument" Shep answered.

"What he means is that I play very badly" Lucas admitted.   He had tried it a couple of times when he and Shep

were at Stanford but he had been very bad a holding any sort of musical note.

"Well people" Bridger said as he rose from his chair and tried to get the kinks out of his body from sitting so long.

"We will be at the Munitions Depot at about lunch time tomorrow.  I suggest we all get some rest before we start

all that work tomorrow." he said and then turned directly towards Lucas and Shep for emphasis.  He knew that 

the friends would likely talk all night otherwise about their old college days and not be ready to start on the computers

at the Depot tomorrow.

"Don't worry Captain, we won't be talking all night" Shep now said in their defence.  "We have much more important

things to plan don't we Lucas?" as he stared intently at his friend.

"Yeah" Lucas replied with an evil grin.  There had to be something he and Shep could do to fool Ben.

Everybody left in the room now got up and left the room.  Most of the people left were headed towards their quarters

and bed like the Captain.  But later during the night a light could be seen coming from Lucas's quarters.   

The battle lines had been drawn and it was time to find out who were the best at practical jokes:  Ben or Lucas and

his college friend Shep………………………..

I KNOW THIS PART IS VERY SHORT GUYS – SORRY BUT I WANT TO INJECT A LITTLE HUMOUR 

INTO THE STORY BEFORE I START THE GOOD STUFF.

OH AND BY THE WAY – THE THING ABOUT THE GRASS AND THE FENCELINE AND THE SUBSTITUTE

TEACHER ALL COME FROM FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE. THAT WAS SOMETHING ME AND MY 

FRIENDS DID IN HIGH SCHOOL WHEN WE WERE LITTLE BRATS. THE THING ABOUT THE PAPER,

THE GLUE AND THE CAR CAME FROM A FRIEND OF MINE EXCEPT THAT IT WAS WOOD SHAVINGS

FROM A WOOD-WORKING CLASS RATHER THAN PAPER THAT WAS SHOVED DOWN THE HOLE

IN THE FLOOR AND STUCK TO THE ROOF OF THE CAR.

THE HARMONICA WAS INTRODUCED NOW BECAUSE I HAVE A SPECIFIC IDEA FOR IT TOWARDS

THE END OF THE STORY.

ARE YOU LIKIN THIS ONE Yet ???? ……………………….

In relation to the name of the Munitions dump, firstly I just stole the name from the episode.  But someone did ask

what sort of mining creates radio-active waste – that's easy – uranium mining – uranium is the main core ingredient

in most nuclear weapons.  There is a lot of it in Australia where I come from and there even has been talk of tapping

into sources under the ocean like in this story.  Mostly I just stole the name because I couldn't come up with a better

one of my own…..

JULES


	3. CHAPTER 3

**FRIENDSHIP**

By the next morning, Lucas and Shep were pretty certain that their prank on Ben Krieg was going to be the joke of

the century.  Shep relied on Lucas to tell him about Ben's personality as much as possible, but once Shep was told

that Ben was a joker himself, together they worked out the prank of the century.

Whilst everyone was sleeping that night and Ben was on duty on the Bridge, Lucas and Shep stole into his room to

grab a few of Ben's possessions.  They grabbed firstly his clock radio that he used as an alarm and then they grabbed

whatever extra U.E.O. uniforms were in the closet.  Luckily for them it was almost wash day and Ben had managed

to whittle his large stash down to just two uniforms.

Once they were back in the seclusion of Lucas's quarters, they went about splitting the jobs at hand.  They only had

a few hours to pull this off and they needed to make sure that everything was back in just the right spot in Ben's

room before he finished his shift.

Lucas won the longer straw and was secretly relieved to find his job was taking apart the mechanical components 

of the clock radio and re-scrambling them so that the alarm would go off at a pre-set time.

Shep's task on the hand was a little more difficult.  They wanted to alter Ben's uniforms and take them in at the waist

slightly so that they would be extra tight fitting when Ben went to get dressed the next morning.  He would still be able

to put them on but they would be noticeably narrower.

Lucas had to admit he was no seamstress and could barely sew a button onto his own clothes when needed.  Once

the buttons came off his shirts, he normally left them until they had no buttons at all or until at least Kristen got sick

of seeing them on wash day with no buttons and took over the mending herself.

By 5.00am all the necessary arrangements had been made and the two of them were just about ready to sit back

and let the festivities begin.  Neither of them had any idea that there was another person on board who also had

a prank up her sleeve to pull on her ex-husband.  She couldn't stand the challenge thrown at her by Ben either. 

Her joke was on a more intimate level and she knew that her ex-partner would be as red as a beetroot when it

all finished.

**************************************************************************************

About 6.00am the next morning and approximately 6 hours until they were at the Munitions Depot, Ben slowly and

tiredly trudged off the Bridge and headed towards his own quarters.  The first stop was only brief as he only stayed

long enough to grab a few personal toiletries, a towel and a change of clothes which consisted of a part of shorts

and a t-shirt.

Ben felt so tired that he didn't see anything out of the ordinary when he entered the officer's bathroom and put down

his belongings on the seat in the middle of the room.  He walked over to the shower cubicle and pressed the various

controls to take water shower.  

Once he was in the shower cubicle, Ben removed the uniform he was wearing and draped them over the door, including

his underwear and socks.  The only things that were left on the floor were his shoes, which were placed just under the

doorway.

Within a few minutes, Ben was too busy working out the tiredness and stiffness in his muscles and had his back turned

towards the door to see anybody approach.

A pair of slender hands quickly snuck underneath the shower's door and removed the pair of shoes, followed by the

clothes hanging over the door.  The unplanned intruder then also removed the short and shirt and underwear sitting

on the seat outside the cubicle.  The only things left in the officer's bathroom were Ben's toothbrush container and

his small drawstring bag which contained after shave and soap.

Katie Hitchcock could barely suppress the laughter she felt as she tried to picture her husband's face when he exited

the shower.  She didn't know how he was going to make it back to his room without his clothes.  This thought only

made her snicker more in laughter as she made it down the corridor towards her own quarters and stowed Ben's

clothing in there.

Katie was also unaware of the prank that Lucas and Shep were also about to pull on Ben Krieg.

Ben Krieg turned off the controls to his water shower and whilst still rubbing at his eyes, made a blind grab for the towel

he remembered hanging on the hook just outside the door only a few minutes earlier.

He frowned a little when his hand failed to meet with fabric and he now opened his eyes and looked towards the 

hook.  It was there alright, but no towel was hanging there.  Ben started to look around the small cubicle for the other

place that his towel might be.

He frowned even more when it seemed to be no where in sight.  He tried to think of what had happened to his towel

in such a short space of time.  Ben's mind started to take him back to a particular conversation he could remember

being involved in the night before starting work.  Where he had all but challenge Lucas and his old-time friend to who

was the best at pulling pranks.

He smiled slightly when he thought about it and had to give the boys credit.  The move had been a bold one, almost

like what he would have pulled on somebody.  His smile quickly faded though as he come back to the problem of 

what he was going to do.

Ben grumbled loudly when it seemed that he would have to put his old uniform over his clean but very wet body and 

then change into his spare clothes once he was back in his quarters.  The feeling of clothes over a wet body wasn't

one he was particularly looking forward to.

He cursed out loud and now opened the cubicle door.  The next expression on his face as he surveyed the vacant

room was one of shock as he looked upon the seat where he knew to have left his clothes and saw that only his

soap bag and toothbrush holder remained.

"What the Hell…………………" he started to say out loud.  It was only now that he noticed the clothes he had

hung over the doorway were also missing.  He quickly concealed himself behind the door again as he realised he

was butt naked without a piece of cloth and a long way from his quarters. 

"I am going to kill those two" he said in mock anger.  "Right after I figure out how to get the hell out of this mess"

he told himself.  He had to admit if he wasn't on the receiving end of this prank, he would have to congratulate 

the people responsible.  For now however, he would be just as happy to wring their necks when he finally got a 

hold of  them.  

He looked around the larger bathroom, trying to spot something that would hide his nakedness long enough to 

scramble back to his room.   At first, he couldn't see anything useful at all.  Then after scanning the room a third

time in desperation, he spotted a large circular receptacle that was used as a garbage bin.  He looked particularly

at the size of it and was happy to see that the large round lid would at least be enough to hide his maleness from

anybody he might inadvertently meet in the corridor.

He looked carefully over the top of the doorway first, making sure that nobody was coming in.  When he was

satisfied that he would be okay for a second or two, he scooted out the door and ran towards the round bin.

He picked up the lid and now held it protectively in front of him like some ancient warrior.   He looked down at

himself and then in a long mirror on the wall and was dismayed with how stupid he actually looked.  He could also

see that his cheeks were still visible to the whole world.    

"Nothing I can do about that now" he said grimly.   There were no other bin lids in the room.  He would just have

to run as fast as he had ever done in his life and hope nobody come up behind him.

He now walked over to the doorway to the officer's bathroom and peer out along it in both directions to make

sure that nobody was coming.  He sighed in relief when he saw it was empty.  Lucky for him that it was still

reasonably early onboard and people probably wouldn't start moving about for another hour or so.

There was another doorway to the officer's bathroom from the corridor parallel to this one.  Ben hadn't thought

his moves through long enough to suspect anybody would be entering the room from the other doorway.  The

first thing they would be greeted with was Ben Krieg from behind, bare cheeks and all.

Captain Nathan Bridger had risen about the same time as Ben had walked off the Bridge.  There was going to

be a lot happening today and he wanted to be there to make sure everything went smoothly enough.

He was dressed in a clean uniform, ready to go onto the Bridge and speak to Commander Ford about the preparations

that still needed to be done before lunch time when they were scheduled to dock at the Munitions Depot.

Bridger grabbed at his comb and toothbrush, ready to make the rest of him a least presentable.  He didn't feel right

when his hair wasn't comb properly or his teeth brushed.

There was only a short distance between his quarters and the officer's bathroom.   He rounded the corner of the 

corridor and prepared to enter through the doorway.  He could scarcely believe the sight he was greeted with on the

other side of the room.

At first his reaction had been one of total shock, but that quickly faded as he recognized who the naked buttocks

belonged to.  His presence hadn't been noticed yet and he had to stifle back the laughter he felt at such a site.  The

black hair and the tall, muscular frame gave away the person's identity.  Bridger didn't need to think hard who might

be responsible for such a prank.  They had all been talking about it only the night before when talking to Lucas and

his newly introduced friend Shep.

"Good Morning Lieutenant" Bridger now said in his loudest and most official sounding voice as he could manage.

"Whaaa………. Whooooooooo,  Oh Good Morning Captain" Ben said as he now turned to face his senior 

commanding officer.

Bridger could see that fortunately Ben had at least managed to find something to hide his other appendages for the

time being.  But now he was turned towards him, his bare buttocks were now exposed to the corridor.  "You might

want to step in here a little more Mr Krieg" he now suggested.

"Oh right Captain" Ben said as his face turned a brilliant crimson red.  He manoeuvred his body so that his rear was

now shielded by the wall of the bathroom.  He still held the rubbish bin lid in front of him. "Captain I can explain

everything" he began as he tried desperately to come up with a logical explanation.

"Oh, you mean you have a perfectly good reason for running around my boat half naked" Bridger now said in amusement.

He could see the Lieutenant's obvious embarrassment.

"But you see it wasn't my…………." Ben began before Bridger held up his hand, signalling for him to stop there.

"I think I have a good idea who was responsible Ben.  But, due to what is going to be happening aboard this boat

today, I ask that you use a little discretion and plan your revenge for a more appropriate time.  Go to your quarters

and get some sleep.   You are going to need it once we dock at the Munitions Depot.  I am sure those other two will

be too busy with their own tasks this morning to worry about carrying out any further mischief.

"When I get my hands on them Captain………." Ben started to say in mock anger.  

"Dismissed Lieutenant" Bridger said forcefully.

Ben quickly took a look into the corridor he had been spying on a few minutes ago and when the coast seemed clear,

he scurried away to his room, still hoping as hell he didn't run into anybody before he got there.  He almost died of 

embarrassment when the Captain had found him naked in the bathroom.  How was he going to ever live that one down.

Though he was a little thankful that it was the Captain.  He could think of a few more people who could have chosen

to walk in as the Captain did and he would definitely not have gotten away so easily.

When he eventually closed his room door, all he wanted to do was sink into his nice soft bed, well as soft as the military

allowed anyway and get that couple of hours sleep before they docked at the Depot.  He knew things would turn a lot

more serious once they reached there.

Once he dressed himself in a singlet and boxer shorts, he gazed at the clock, it now said 7.00a.m.   He laid down on

the bed and closed his eyes, soon drifting off into a sound sleep.

Back up on the Bridge, the Captain had just made his appearance after finding Ben Krieg in the Officer's bathroom.

He apologized to Commander Ford about being delayed and immediately asked about how the necessary preparations

were going for their arrival at the Depot.

Commander Ford informed him that most of the crew were successfully carrying out their allotted tasks and he hoped

to be finished well ahead of schedule. 

Bridger nodded his head in acknowledgement and then spotted Lucas and Shep huddled together near a couple of

boxes, Lucas holding a clipboard in hand, apparently checking the various inventory and equipment that he and Shep

would need to take with them.  

With the Admiral's consent, they had been able to order just about anything they wanted for the operation.  Half of it Commander Ford didn't even know what it was, but Lucas and Shep's eyes had all but lit up when some of it had 

arrived the day before and they unwrapped the various cases.   The two words that kept coming up were "That's way 

cool" and "I can't believe this".   

Bridger thought he would take this opportunity to ask the two teenager themselves about how their own preparations

were going and to dig at them about the prank they had just pulled on a certain red-faced Lieutenant.

"How's it going Lucas?" Bridger asked, trying to still sound authoritive without other crew members nearby.

"Oh great Captain.  You won't believe some of the stuff we got permission to get.  Some of it is absolutely awesome.

We should be able to transfer the information from the databanks in half  the time." Lucas said as the excitement in

his body language was too hard to ignore.  Shep seemed as equally as excited.

"Well just remember to keep your activities focused on this operation please Mr Wolenczak" Bridger now said.

"Keep your mischief until the job is finished and we are back aboard the boat" he added.

Lucas and Shep now both looked at each other for a minute and then at the Captain.  There gag wasn't even

scheduled to take place for another half an hour yet.  Was their cover blown already?  How did the Captain know

about it?

"We don't know what you mean Captain?" Lucas now said, trying to cover their own tracks and keep up appearances

that they had been working studiously away as requested.   He was still trying to work out how the Captain had found

out about their little gag.

"Sure you don't" Bridger replied and casually walked away to go and check on the progress of other crew members.

He had a grin on his face as he said the words.

Katie Hitchcock had been close enough to overhear the Captain's comments to the two teenagers.  She grinned

to herself about the prank she had pulled on her ex-husband.  Obviously the Captain knew about it but wasn't 

angry about it so she was happy with her efforts.  She would stop by and check on Ben herself later to see how

red he still was.   

Once the Captain had walked passed, Katie gave Lucas and Shep a grin that said a thousand words.  Both teenagers

knew that Katie had done something.  To whom or what they still didn't know.  Lucas was totally shocked.  Katie

Hitchcock was one of the most professional women he knew.  She really took her job and career seriously.  To think

that she had  taken up their challenge about who was the best prankster and actually carried it out, blew his mind

away.   

"Who and What did you do?" Lucas asked as he walked over to her and whispered the question so others wouldn't hear.

"I tell all later" she said and laughed as she turned away and returned to her duties.  

All of these goings-on between the Captain, Lucas and Shep and Katie had all been witnessed by Commander

Jonathan Ford.  He didn't know what was going on, but he saw the surprised looks on Lucas's face that were out

of character, and the smirks from the Captain and then the giggling from Katie Hitchcock.  He frowned a little

and promised to keep a closer eye on them all.

**************************************************************************************

Lucas and Shep kept at their duties but after about twenty minutes continued to look at their watches and wait for

the fun they had prepared to begin.  

Everybody was about to go to breakfast in the mess hall.  It was now 7.30a.m.

Back at Ben Krieg's quarters, the alarm clock that had been tampered with was now reading 12.00 noon.  The

alarm now sounded, startling Ben out of a sound slumber.  He rubbed his eyes tiredly and tired to blindly hit the

clock on the table, he missed.  The noise was beginning to bug him.  He felt like he had only been asleep for an 

hour or so.   He couldn't believe his eyes when he looked at the digital numbers and they read lunchtime.   He knew

he couldn't push the snooze button and go back to sleep.  With all of the activity aboard the ship today, Ford

would chew him out severely if he was late for his shift.  He really did feel as though he hadn't slept at all.

After a few more seconds of debating what to do, he threw back the covers on his bed and groaned loudly as he

made himself get up.    He went to the small closet in his room and grabbed out the last of his uniforms.   He continued

to grumble and moan about how tired he felt as he slipped the legs of the trousers over his feet and began pulling

them up to his waist.

Due to Lucas's and Shep's little sewing exercise, Ben stopped his grumbling momentarily as he started to frown about

how hard a time he was getting his trousers around his waist.  He knew he didn't exactly watch his weight too often,

but he didn't think he had gained that much weight lately.    With some more groaning and much in-taking of his 

stomach muscles, he finally managed to get the zipper done up.  The button proved a little more difficult and he was

sure that it was going to pop as soon as he sat down somewhere.

By the time he finished putting on his shirt and looking at his overall appearance in the mirror, he was really starting

to feel uncomfortable.  "Ben my boy, you are going on a diet, starting tomorrow" he informed himself.

He looked back at the clock on his bedside table and saw that due to the time he had taken to squeeze into his uniform,

he was already a few minutes late for his shift.  When he left his room, he headed straight towards the mess hall,

determined to get a cup of coffee to keep him awake before he even considered walking onto the Bridge.  He knew

it would make him later still, but the way he felt right now, he didn't know that he would make it through his shift anyway.

He jogged the final part to the mess hall as the guilt of being late began gnawing at his sub-conscious again.  He almost

ran into Commander Ford when he entered the room in his haste.

"Krieg will you watch what you are doing" Ford barked loudly, upset that his tray of breakfast was now sodden with

his own black coffee.  "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked, remembering that the Lieutenant had only finished

his night shift only a hour or so ago.  He thought that Ben would have been tucked up in bed sound asleep by now.

"Sorry Commander, can't talk, late already.  I just want to grab a cup of coffee and I will be on the Bridge in a few

minutes" Ben answered and hurry off again towards the coffee machine before giving Ford a chance to question about

why he was going back on the Bridge.

Commander Ford shrugged his shoulders and told him that what ever hair-brained scheme Krieg was up to, as long as

it didn't involve him he didn't want to know.  He headed to table behind where Commander Katie Hitchcock was

sitting.  Lucas, Shep and the Captain were sitting at the table beside them.

Lucas and Shep had both seen Ben come scooting into the room and saw the anxious look on his face.  The pair of

them immediately tried to hide their smirks behind their own coffee cups.  Captain Bridger noticed their faces and 

wondered what the two of them were up to now.  Like Commander Ford, he wondered why Ben Krieg was in the

mess hall when he had told him to go to bed and get some sleep.  

Ben Krieg had now gotten his cup of coffee from the machine and was headed towards the table where the two

mischief causers were sitting.   All the time he was pulling at his uniform, trying to alleviate the tightness in places

he would rather their wasn't.   At this rate he would have to order in a uniform at a bigger size.  He definitely 

needed to go on a diet.

Ben placed his cup on the table and gave a half-hearted greeting to the Captain as he prepared to sit down.  He

looked over towards Lucas and Shep and noticed the two of them trying to hide behind their cups, amusement

written all over their faces.  He thought their mirth was due to his earlier predicament. 

"Oh you guys are real comedians, you know that" Ben said wryly as he went to sit down on his chair.

Lucas was about to say something in their defence when the atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of tearing

fabric as Ben sat down.  Ben's face turned that brilliant shade of red again as he quickly jumped up and discovered

that the entire back seam of his trousers had come apart due to the strain.    They were torn from waist line to

crotch.   It was about now that he realised that he had been had a second time this morning.

Lucas and Shep could no longer hide their laughter and the two of them were literally rolling around on their chairs

laughing so hard that they were almost crying.  They would get themselves under control only to look at Ben's

distressed look and fall into fits of laughter again.

Ben thought he would at least get some support from the Captain about the pranks of Lucas and his friend.  Instead,

he was dismayed to look at Bridger and saw him laughing heartily as well.   Katie Hitchcock at the table behind

them was also in great fits of laughter at her ex-husband's problem.

"Lieutenant, I thought you were supposed to be getting some sleep before we dock at the Depot?" Bridger now

asked, trying to regain some control over the situation.  

"My alarm clock went off ……………………." he stopped in mid-sentence as he spotted the secret looks between

Lucas and his friend.

"Your alarm clock went off?" Lucas now asked as he tried to keep his composure again.  "What time did it say Ben?"

"It's lunch-time isn't it?" Ben now asked innocently.  He really didn't know what time it was.

"The time is 7.45a.m. Ben" Captain Bridger said, holding out his wristwatch for the Lieutenant to see he was telling

the truth.

Now even Commander Ford was chuckling as he realised that Lucas and his friend had somehow done something

to Krieg's alarm clock.  He now knew the reason for him to be up so soon again.

"Let me just say that revenge will be swift and unmerciful" Ben said in a voice that was devoid of emotion.  Although

he would never pull anything to hurt the boys, especially Lucas.  He did intend for his return gag to have the two of

them more embarrassed than they had ever been in their entire lives.  With this statement he gathered all of his pride

together and then as proud as a peacock, strutted towards the doorway with his split seam in full view.

The entire mess hall was in fits of laughter as he made his exit but he didn't care, all Ben could think of while he walked

out was what he was going to do to two certain teenagers in revenge.  Whatever it was it had to be spectacular

and leave no doubt in anyone's mind that he was the King of Pranks.

*****************************************************************************************


	4. CHAPTER 4

**FRIENDSHIP**

"Captain we are just preparing the last phase of our docking with the depot" Commander Ford now informed Bridger.

All of the senior crew members were dressed in their uniforms and were standing by the launch bay doors ready

to arrive and start carrying off all the essential supplies.

Since the prank to Ben in the mess hall, Lucas and Shep had been nothing but professional about their whole role

in this operation.  Lucas knew that everyone was counting on him to do his task and complete it on time, not forgetting

to do it well.  They couldn't afford to mess up on this.  It had to be done right the first time due to the time restriction

factors.

Shep and Lucas were all standing together, there was no one else standing close by at this point in time. Ben was 

hidden behind one of the doorways but was smiling to himself as he saw the perfect opportunity for revenge right 

there in front of him.  He also knew that he needed to do the prank before they left the SeaQuest.  Once aboard 

the munitions depot he would have to be on his best behaviour until they returned to the boat and that was just too 

long to wait to get even for Ben.

He had about fifteen minutes to do his stunt so whatever it was to be had to be quick.  Ben hurried down to the

boat's gallery and grabbed a bucket of freezing cold water and then made his way back to his vantage point without

being seen.  He had cursed silently to himself when in his haste some of the freezing water slopped over the edge of

the bucket and landed on the legs of his pants.  The water was very cold.  Once he got over the initial shock of how

cold the water was, he smiled devilishly to himself about what was about to happen.

Ben didn't think he should risk someone seeing him by looking again to see if the two teenagers were still standing

in the same place.  What he didn't know was that Lucas had absentmindedly forgotten an important piece of their

equipment and ran back down one of the opposite corridors to grab it from his room.  

With Shep standing on his own, Captain Bridger now took the opportunity while they were waiting to dock to talk

to Lucas's friend to see if everything was still on schedule for them.

"How's it going Shep?" Bridger asked casually as he came over. 

"Oh great Captain Sir" Shep answered.  "Lucas has planned all of this.  I am just the anchor man.  He really is the

brains behind the whole thing.  I am just an extra pair of hands to help out."

Ben took a deep breath and then took one step out from his hiding place and threw the bucket of freezing cold

water in one smooth action.  He heard the startled cries of shock from the cold water but something told him all 

was not right.

He had heard Shep's voice amongst the cries but the other voice sounded a lot deeper than Lucas's.  He could

scarcely keep his own scream of anguish in when he saw a very wet and shivering Captain Bridger standing beside

and equally cold and soaked Shep.

"Lieutenant Krieg" Bridger bellowed "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded to know.  

Just as Bridger shouted the question, Lucas came back down the corridor from his quarters.  One look at the angry

look on the Captain's face, the cold and dripping Shep and the empty bucket in Krieg's hand told him what had

transpired whilst he was gone.   He couldn't help but laugh at Krieg's misfortune.  Ben had gotten Shep good,

Lucas was just glad that fate had a hand in his absence that saw him still standing there dry.

Most of the crew in the launch bay had howled with laughter at Krieg's prank, including Commander Ford and

Commander Katie Hitchcock.  One warning look from the Captain though and the laughter quickly died away and

warm towels were placed around the Captain's shoulders and then Shep.

"Man that is so not fair.  I missed you completely" Ben said to Lucas.

"Like I said Ben, you got to be pretty good to catch the Lucasman" the teenager said laughing again.  He went

over to check that the Captain and Shep were alright.  Both of them were cold to say the least. 

"You must have nine lives Lucas" Shep said in a dejected tone, a little disappointed that he had been caught

so easily but not the person rightfully deserving of the drenching.

"Let's go and get changed quickly before the docking is complete" Captain Bridger now suggested about himself

and Shep.  Within a short period of time, both of them returned to the launch bay dressed in dry clothing but

still dampened hair.

Ben kept looking at the Captain a little worried about what be his punishment.  Bridger had to smile to himself as

he noticed the nervousness on the Lieutenant's face.  "Don't worry Lieutenant, I will come up with something

that fits the crime." he finally said.  

Ben was even more worried now but all of them had to put on a much more professional appearance as the seal

between the SeaQuest and the munitions depot was opened.

"This is it people, I want you all on your best behaviour from here on in" Bridger now announced, making sure he

had the attention of three of his crew in particular.   Lucas, Shep and Ben agreed to put all of their mischief aside

until after the job was completed.

*************************************************************************************

"Welcome Captain Bridger.   There is only a very small staff of people left, but we aim to help your team out 

wherever we can and make this removal as smooth as possible" a tall lanky man said as he greeted the SeaQuest

crew.

"Thank you, Mr………." Bridger said waiting for the man to tell them his name.

"Oh, I am sorry, Mr Biggs" the man then said apologetically.  "If you and your team will follow me please, we can

attend to unloading your supplies shortly.  I will direct you and your crew to their quarters for the next week and

give you a quick tour of the areas you will have access to before you begin the operation." 

"I will have everyone assemble in the mess hall after our tour and you can tell us how to go about this operation

and assign the various teams.  I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful at this stage.  The person that was supposed

to greet you when you arrived has been delayed until later on.   He is the director of the depot and has intricate 

knowledge about what equipment has to go and what is to stay.  He has had many meetings with your Admiral

Noyce about this move." Biggs explained.

"That will be fine Mr Biggs" Captain Bridger said, feeling a little sorry for the man.  He obviously had been thrown

in the deep end and didn't know about half that was to occur.

Bridger and his crew laden down with their sparse luggage now followed the stand-in tour guide onto the elevator.

The munitions depot had many levels to it, some of it they would have access to, other parts not.  Most of the more

dangerous levels were down below where the waste material was stored and sealed off from the threat of a leak.

The crew and Mr Biggs weren't the only ones to board the lift though.   A few other depot personnel including

one young girl waited patiently until the lift reached the level she wanted.   Lucas had been standing at the back

of the elevator next to Shep and Bridger.  When the young girl entered the lift, Lucas couldn't hide the reddening

of his face as he gazed upon her petite frame and very pretty face.

Bridger looked over at Ben who had also noticed the expression and colour of Lucas's face.  At least the teenager

wasn't fighting his raging hormones Ben said to himself.  There was many a time that the Lieutenant thought the

kid was too hidden away from such things as girls and relaxation.  Being aboard a submarine for many weeks at a

time didn't help his social skills either.

Ben wanted to say something to his friend and taunt him a little but was worried that his voice would carry in such

a confined space and the young lady might find out about the interest coming from behind her.

The lift continued to ascend for two more levels, and then it stopped.   The young lady seemed to be getting off

at the same level as the SeaQuest crew.    Most of the crew and people in front had gotten off in front of Lucas.

The girl had been caught up in the rush to get off and had dropped some of the files that she had been carrying

in her hands.  

Lucas now stopped and bent down and started to help the girl pick up the paper that was strewn about the floor

of the elevator.  At first his gaze was focused on the papers, but when he looked up he saw a pair of emerald

green eyes staring back at him.   He swallowed nervously before managing to open his mouth…….."Hi" he 

said in a quiet voice.

"Hi" the girl replied, gazing a the boy in front of her.  She could scarcely believe that somebody had bothered to

stop and help her.  Most of the people on the lift had just walked past.  She couldn't remember seeing anyone

with such expressive blue eyes before.  She began wondering what his name was.

Bridger, Ben and Shep had gotten off with rest of the crew, but then quickly noted the teenager's absence as

they began walking down a long corridor.  The three of them backtracked a few metres to the lift and saw

Lucas kneeling on the floor gazing at the girl that had been in the lift with them.

Lucas seemed to be staring at her and she seemed to be staring at Lucas.  

"Thank you for helping" the girl said.  "My name is Ariel" she then added, hoping the boy would tell her his name.

"Your welcome, my name is Lucas" the star struck teenager said.  His brain was ticking over the whole time 

thinking about how nicely the name suited her.

Shep and Ben couldn't help but poke fun at their friend and pretended to play a couple of invisible violins as they

watched young love happening right before their eyes.  Bridger gave them a mock stern look but could help but

chuckle himself as he looked at the two nervous teenagers.  They were both as nervous as each other.

"What are you doing here?" Ariel now asked Lucas.

"I am part of the SeaQuest crew helping move everybody off the depot" Lucas replied. "If you need any help

with your stuff, I would be happy to help out." he said with hopefulness.

"Uh huh" Ben said in an over-exaggerated, knowing that Lucas was hoping for more than helping the girl

move out.  

"Oh that would be extremely helpful.  Maybe we can meet for dinner in the cafeteria later on and talk about it"

the girl now said, wanting to find out all she could about this new handsome young stranger.

"See you later than" Lucas now said as he knew the crew would be waiting for him.  He never expected to

meet someone so enchanting when he woke up this morning.  He too wanted to know more about her.

"See you" Ariel said and smiled at him coyly before turning in the opposite direction and walking down the

other end of the corridor.  For a few seconds, Lucas was content enough just to watch the girl walk away

from behind.  He had a big grin of satisfaction plastered all over his face for all to see.

"See you round my love" Ben now said over Lucas's shoulder in a imitation girl's voice as he wasted no time

in teasing Lucas about his new friend. Lucas turned around ready to give a mouth full to Ben but when he

turned and saw the him laughing with Shep and Bridger, he too joined in the laughter.  He was a little embarrassed

as to how things had happened right in front of his friends.  When it came to matters of the heart, Lucas was 

normally a very private person.

"Gee Lucas, you even beat your all time personal record that time" Shep now informed his teenage friend.

"You haven't moved that quick on a girl since college."

"Come on you guys, the rest of the crew has gone on ahead of us, we have to catch up" Bridger now said,

hoping that would end Lucas's embarrassment.  

Lucas now fell in beside Bridger as he walked down the corridor towards the rest of the crew.  Ben and Shep

walked behind, still smiling at their friend's chance encounter with a girl.  They couldn't remember when Lucas

had fallen over a girl so hard before.

"She's very pretty don't you think Captain?" Lucas now asked as his mind wandered off to think about Ariel.

"Come on Romeo" Bridger now said to the youth as he urged the boy to keep his mind on the job at hand.  

With a love sick puppy on their hands, Bridger was beginning to wonder just how much of the computer storage

was going to be completed in the time they were there.

"Where did you all go?" Commander Ford asked as Bridger and the rest of the stragglers came into their temporary

quarters.

"Our young friend here found himself a girlfriend" Bridger now said as he pointed towards Lucas.  

"Already?  But we haven't even been here more than five minutes?" Ford now said in surprise.  Lucas finding

himself a companion was the last thing they thought would happen on this mission.  "How serious can it really

be?" he now added, thinking that they were only going to be there a week or so anyway and there wouldn't

be much time for romance.

"Oh don't worry Commander, they are well past the first date.  I say by this time tomorrow they will be asking

to get married.   They haven't stopped making doe eyes at each other since they met." Ben now said in fun.  

Shep joined in the laughter with everybody else.  When they all looked over at the very person they were talking 

about, Lucas's attention seemed to be everywhere else but in the room he was standing.

Mr Biggs had been listening to the chatter going back and forth about who Lucas had met but he really needed

to get things underway.   "Um excuse me, these are your living quarters for the time you will be here.  If you

stow your gear,  I will take you all for a tour of the rest of the depot and then to the mess hall for a bite to eat.

Once we finish the meal, I will gather all those involved and you can explain the rosters and which teams everybody

will break up into."

"Your right Mr Biggs, come on everybody let's go" Bridger now said, making sure that Lucas understood what was

going on.   By now Lucas seemed to at least be back on planet earth.  He looked as though he was ready to pay

attention to what was going on for a little while anyway.

"These corridors run through the entire depot.  There are sign posts in various locations to tell which way to go but

basically if you follow them, you can't get lost.  You might get a long way from where you want to be, but if you

just keep following them all the way around, eventually you will end up where you want to be." Biggs explained as

they all walked in one group through the complex.

Biggs showed them through a virtual maze of rooms that were mostly sleeping quarters for personnel.  Now they

were coming up to the area that Lucas and Shep would be mostly interested in, the laboratories.

As soon as they walked in, Lucas and Shep groaned a little at what work load lay before them.  Inside the rooms,

there were innumerable desks and work stations, all of them fitted out with a computer that would need to be 

backed up and wiped once they were finished.  They were literally talking about a whole day of work just in this

one laboratory,  no doubt there were a lot more in other places.   Lucas really did start to think that the job wasn't

going to be finished on time.

Lucas applied himself to the task though and started to jot down notes as they walked in a small note pad.  He also

made some crude maps of the laboratories and corridors for later reference.  Nobody would be able to understand

his smallish scrawl, but at least he shouldn't get too lost on his own.

The crew were now taken towards what used to be the galley area of the depot.   The mess hall that Biggs had

spoken about for a meal later on was in a different part and was only a temporary set up while the last of the 

dismantle of the depot took place.  All of the stoves had been switched off and most of the cooking utensils

and appliances had been packed up in boxes, ready to be taken away.

"These refrigerators and freezers are only being used for storing most of the perishable food at the moment.  They

will be switched off on the last day or so.  If you are too far from the mess hall and feel like something to eat, please

feel free to help yourselves.  You will probably only manage to make a sandwich or something, but at least you

won't have to walk all the way back to the mess hall." Biggs now said.

Lucas and Shep liked this idea, particularly because they were so close to the laboratories where the boys would

be spending most of their days.  It would be a lot easier for them if they could just grab something and eat while

they still worked.  Looking at the amount of work in front of them, they weren't sure they had the time to stop

for meal breaks anyway.

Soon the tour of the areas the crew had access to was finished and the crew sat down in the mess hall ready for

that meal.   Whilst on the tour, Bridger and Commander Ford voiced their concerns about some of the areas

being restricted access, as did Lucas because of the computer equipment that was likely to be housed in some of

those areas.   Mr Biggs promised to talk to the man in charge of the depot upon his return about getting them

access.

Most of the crew had gotten their meal trays and were sitting at one of the large tables in the mess hall.   They

had been idly talking amongst themselves about what was to happen once they started packing up.  Lucas was

still in the queue waiting to get his meal.

"Uh-oh, our star-crossed lovers have just met up again" Shep now said as he watched his friend standing in line.

Ariel had just come up behind Lucas with her own tray.

Lucas felt a soft tap on his right shoulder, he turned and couldn't help but smile at the person responsible. "Hi"

he greeted her.

"Hi Lucas" Ariel said in a shy voice.  "Nice to see you again." she added, blushing slightly.    She hadn't expected

to run into the handsome teenager so soon again after their chance encounter.

"Nice to see you too Ariel" Lucas replied.  He was sure that he would never forget that name as long as he lived.

With Lucas and Ariel both holding their meal trays and heading back towards the crew, Bridger and the others

motioned for the young teenagers to join them at the table.   Lucas looked to his side though and spied a smaller,

but totally empty table and invited Ariel to sit with him alone at that one.  Ariel readily agreed and the two of them

sat down.   Lucas sat so that he could still see the crew across the room.  

"How does he do it?" Ben asked in honesty.  "He hasn't known the girl but a few minutes and already she's eating

right out of his hand."

"Oh you mean like you Ben" Katie Hitchcock now said, "Lucas probably hasn't stooped to your level yet Ben.

He hasn't tried to tell her over-exaggerated tales of his achievements or promise her things that she will never see.

He hasn't used that Krieg kind of charm that makes a girl what to puke right there and then." she said.

"Katie, I am hurt" Ben now said with a feigned shocked and appalled expression on his face.  "You fell for all of

those things remember once upon a time." he said as he reminded her of their marriage.

"Yes, but that was before I had the operation to replace my brain.   I still swear to this day that it wasn't me you

married Ben, but that's not what the marriage certificate says." Katie now joked.  Everybody else at the table

was a little uneasy about the conversation between ex husband and wife.   Kate and Ben weren't however, they

had made the decision to remain friends a long time ago.  Neither of them could deny that they still had feelings

to one another, they just weren't the kind of feelings that made a marriage last forever.

The crew now looked up to see Lucas and his new lady friend getting up from the table.  Ariel gave Lucas a quick

kiss on the cheek and an even quicker hug before she quickly hurried out of the room, trying to hide her tear-stained

face.

Lucas left his tray on the other table, not feeling very hungry but now went back over to the other table where his 

friends were sitting.

"What's wrong Lucas?" Bridger now asked worried about the sullen look on the young man's face.   

"She dump you pal?" Ben said and then regretted his inappropriate jab as Lucas looked at him with a hurtful

expression.  Katie quickly chastised her ex-husband with a kick to his shin bone.   Almost everybody else at the

table gave Krieg a displeasing look as well as they looked upon the teenager's sad face.

"She's leaving later on tonight." he finally said and now everybody knew the reason for his depressed mood.

"We exchanged phone numbers and said we would stay in contact, but I doubt we'll see each other again."

"I am sorry to hear that Lucas" Bridger said as he tried to find the right words to say.  "I'm sure she will keep

in contact with you.  She looked as though she really liked you." he added, trying to perk up the teenager's

feelings.

"I think I really liked her too Captain" Lucas then added.  It was so very rare that Lucas aired his feelings

to everybody on the topic of romance and relationships.

"Come on chum, we got lots to do" Shep now said, not knowing how else to cheer his friend up other than

the suggestion of work to keep his mind off things.

Lucas rose from the table and then attempted to put his mind to the task at hand.  "Captain if you don't mind,

Shep and I will get started on the computer systems.   We don't need anybody else assigned to help us at

your meeting."

"Sure go ahead Lucas, we can meet back here at say 6.00pm for dinner?" he now suggested, not wanting the

boy to work for hours and hours without food.  He didn't know much about Shep's eating regime but he knew

Lucas's all too well when he got involved with the computers.  The kid rarely stopped for anything including

sleep and food.  Bridger would make sure that he still looked after himself on this mission.   The schedule could

get shot to hell for all he cared, so long as Lucas didn't work himself to death to try and keep up with it.

************************************************************************************

While the rest of the crew went to the meeting of the other personnel on the depot and worked out teams to move

the equipment, Lucas and Shep got their necessary equipment and headed to the first set of labs they needed to 

work on.

"If you start on all the other smaller computers Shep, I will concentrate on the mainframe because it's probably going

to take the majority of the time.   Yell out if you need a hand." Lucas now said to his friend.

Before Shep got too involved in the computer work, he set up a portable stereo and put in a music disk to keep

them entertained.  Soon the pair of them were steadily working with the music blaring away in the background.

Although strange to some, Lucas and Shep had used such methods all the time when they were studying back in

college.

About two hours later, Shep seemed to be moving steadily from computer to computer, storing the recorded data

as needed and checking to see if it was still retrievable afterwards. 

Lucas however, was sitting frowning at the large screen in front of him.  He had thought things were going just as

smoothly as Shep for the first hour or so, but now he wasn't so sure.  There was something with the data as his

eyes scanned it that just didn't make sense.  He had spent the last hour or so trying to make heads or tails of it.

"Shep come and look at this" Lucas now said wanting a second opinion on the puzzle.  Shep turned down the

music so the friends could hear each other.

"What's up Lucas?" Shep now said not picking up that anything was wrong.

"Take a look at this." Lucas now said and pointed to the screen.   Shep looked at it for quite a few minutes, not

really grasping his friend's idea of what was wrong.

"So?" was all Shep could think to say.  "What are you driving at?"

"Take another look and then look at this screen," Lucas now instructed as he patiently waited to see if what he 

saw dawned on his friend.

Shep did what Lucas said, looked at the first screen and then looked at the second one like Lucas said, his mind

was totally blank for a few seconds more until the penny finally dropped.  

"But what would make that happen?" he now said.  He could see the problem that Lucas was talking about.  It 

was taken him some considerable more time to pick up on it.   If Lucas hadn't been so vigilant, they may not

have picked it up at all and then all of their work would go out the window.  Shep wasn't entirely positive that

the work they had already done wasn't headed in that direction already.

"I don't know," Lucas admitted as he ran a hand through his unruly blond hair.  "I have been staring at it for the

last hour trying to figure out what it means."

"Let's go and get something to eat.  Maybe that will help us figure it out." Shep now suggested.  He could see 

the tired look on his friend's face.   He too like Bridger wasn't about to watch his friend work himself to death.

"Okay."

When Shep and Lucas walked into the mess hall, the rest of the SeaQuest crew were already half way through

their meal.   Bridger didn't complain however, he was just pleased to see that Lucas or at least Shep had taken

note of his advice about keeping to meal times.

"How goes it Lucas and Shep" Ben greeted the two teenagers.

"Slow Ben, very slow" Lucas said in an almost annoyed voice.  He wasn't annoyed at Ben, more at himself for

not being able to work out the problem.   He had been put in charge of the project and even at this early stage

of things it seemed as though he just wouldn't be able to cut it.  That didn't sit too well with the teenager even

if everybody else was happy enough to settle for something lesser from him.

Shep got both meal trays for him and Lucas.  His friend remained at the table, lost deep in thought as he tried

to work out the problem.   

"Problems?" Bridger asked casually, noting the strained expression on Lucas's face.   He could see the battle

raging within the teenager.

"You could say that" Lucas said matter-of-factly and then concentrated on putting food in his mouth so he didn't

need to elaborate any further.

Lucas and Shep now looked at each other, both knowing that they were searching for a reason and an answer

to their problem.

"Did you………." Shep started to ask.

"Yep" was Lucas reply before the sentence was even finished.

"How about the other…….." he then asked again.

"Yep did that too" Lucas now said.

The crew just sat in stunned silence at the two friends.  It seemed that they were just so in tune with each other when

it came to computers that both knew what the other was thinking almost without the need for saying it.

"It's like watching a foreign film." Ben now said, trying to inject a little humour into what they were looking at.   
"You can see the actors but you can't understand a word they are saying."

The crew nodded their heads in agreement.  Even Bridger was surprised at the level of intuition between the two

friends.  They were really in touch with each other on every level, emotionally, physically and now even intellectually

it seemed.

The conversation and thought process was interrupted by the appearance of Mr Biggs from earlier in the day.

"Good evening everybody.  I trust you have found yourselves getting around okay and gotten enough to eat."

he now said.  At one point he glanced briefly towards Lucas but then quickly turned his attention back to the

Captain and the rest of the crew again when he saw the teenager lost deep in thought.

"If you and your crew are finished with their meal Captain, I will introduce you to the head of the Depot.  Seems

he has come back a little earlier and is ready to receive your party as he arrives from the shuttle." Biggs now

explained.  "If you will all follow me please."

As the crew followed the man down the corridor towards the shuttle launch bay area, Lucas was still thinking

about the computer problem.   He found at the end of the day as much as he wanted to avoid it, there was only

one plausible reason for what he saw:  **_sabotage.  And if it was just that he had to try and find out who would_**

want to do something like that and why.

The thought quickly dried up in his mind though as he could see the man Biggs was talking about approaching the

crew from the other end of the corridor.  At first he was too far away and just though that his mind must have

been playing tricks on him, but when he saw Shep pausing in his step and taking a good look too, he knew that 

his friend had the same sense of foreboding that he did.

"No way………" Shep now managed to get out as the shock started to set in.   He recognized the man coming

towards them alright.   "No fucking way…………." he said.

The crew had stopped short when they heard the swear word coming from Shep.   They had a disapproving 

look for the teenager until his face and that of Lucas.

"Tell me it's not Shep………" Lucas said in a quiet voice as his mind tried to comprehend the person walking

towards him.   All of the memories he had tried so hard to drive down and forget about were beginning to

resurface again.     

"I can see him Lucas, but I don't fucking believe it" Shep now commented, a little concerned at the paleness

of Lucas's face.

Bridger was trying real hard to ignore the swearing that was going on and concentrate on what was the cause

of the foul language. He too looked towards Lucas and noted the tautness of the skin on Lucas's face and

the grim expression.  The look was somewhere between crying out of frustration and screaming out in anger.

The man that Biggs had been talking about was now close enough to see the two teenagers.   He too had a 

surprised look on his face for a few minutes until he hid his emotions behind a stone mask.

"Well well looks like the U.E.O. has taken to hiring juvenile delinquents and college mis-fits these days" the

man said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"You bastard" Shep found himself yelling at the stranger, he could scarcely contain his emotions.  They were

gathering within him and threatening to explode like a volcano any minute.

Commander Ford now got a grip on the back of Shep's shirt to prevent something ugly happening.  He didn't

know how Lucas and his friend come to know the stranger, it was just as obvious that he seemed to know them

too.

"Let me go, you don't understand.  What that bastard did to Lucas" Shep now shouted in rage and demanded 

that he be released.

At the end of that statement all eyes came upon Lucas who was standing as though transfixed to the one spot.

He hadn't taken his eyes off the stranger, his face had gained some colour though Bridger noted with worry

as he saw the teenager's face turn just as red in anger as that of his friend.

"Mr Wolenczak tell me how's your father……….." the stranger tormented with a sparkle of evil in his eyes.

That was the final straw, Lucas couldn't hide his emotions any more and the hatred or contempt that he felt

for this man.

He started to turn around and go in the opposite direction, not answering the man's jibe at him.  Before he made

it entirely past the SeaQuest crew, he paused at Bridger and uttered some ominous words………….

"If you tell me you knew about him being here I will never talk to you again…………………." he shouted almost

on the verge of tears and then ran down the corridor away from them all as fast as he could.

Bridger couldn't do anything but stand there with a shocked expression on his face.  He had never been on the

receiving end of such harsh words before from the teenager.   If he had of heard those same words without the

anger in them he would have thought Lucas was joking, but with the look upon Lucas's face and that of Shep

he could do nothing but believe them.   He didn't know what Lucas meant though, he had never seen this person

before in his life.  He didn't even know his name yet.

"I got to go and find Lucas" Shep now said as he ripped free of Ford's grip and ran after his friend.

"Um gentleman, Captain, this is Dr Henry Woodstock, head of this depot" Mr Biggs now introduced.  At first

the name didn't sink in to the crew.    It took a few more seconds before they realised what name he had

said.

"Captain, I have no time to talk to you or your people right now.   I will summon you when I am ready to talk to

you" Woodstock now said and then left with Mr Biggs before Bridger had a chance to respond.

It was Bridger's turn to have an angry look on his face.  It was almost as if the man had dismissed him like a 

small child.   "We had better go and find Lucas" he then said as his expression changed to one of concern and

worry only for one person.

"Why do I get the feeling that something's going on here that we don't know about?" Ben whispered in Ford's

ear.   Ford was forced to agree and nod his head in answer.  He too felt like the entire crew had just been

given the brush off and he didn't like how this whole mission was panning out.

The crew followed the Captain back to their temporary quarters.  By the time they got there though the only

noise they could hear coming from the room was that of Lucas's shouting.   It sounded like he was talking to

the video-link.

"I said get him now jerk" Lucas demanded and slammed his fist down angrily on the console with the video-link

controls.   The young cadet on the other end swallowed hard as he came face to face with the angry face of the

teenager, he quickly did what Lucas asked.

Bridger was about to stop Lucas's outburst and ask what was going on.  Before he could ask though, Bill

Noyce appeared on the video-link screen.  At first he was a little surprised at someone being put through to his

room without being consulted first, but one look at the angry face of the young teenager in front of  him and he

put everything else aside.

"How long have you known he was here?" Lucas demanded, his voice too calm and low for Bridger's liking.

"How long have I known about who Lucas?" Bill asked, pretending not to know what Lucas was talking about.

Unfortunately he had a pretty good idea.

"Don't play games with me Admiral, you oversaw everybody on this mission.  You knew he was going to be

here.  You knew all along that he knew me and Shep.  How could you?  I thought you were supposed to be

my friend?" Lucas now accused.

"I take it your talking about Mr Woodstock being there.  Lucas I didn't know about you and he knowing each

other" Noyce lied.

"Cut the bullshit Admiral" Lucas now yelled back "I am not a three year old.  You knew he was here alright,

just like you knew about what he has done in the past."  

"Lucas I………………" Noyce now started in an apologetic tone of voice.

"Save it Admiral, let me just say that I will never trust you again" and he then went into his own private bedroom,

slamming the door loudly behind him so that everybody heard.

Bridger ran his hands through his hair for a few seconds.  He thought Lucas had been mad at him.  Boy, it paled

in comparison to how angry Lucas had been at the Admiral.  He still didn't know what was going on entirely.

"Boy was he mad" Ben now said for everybody else in the room.  Bill Noyce was still on the video-link screen

and was part of the conversation.  The crew could scarcely believe the ferocity of Lucas's words or the swearing 

that the teenager had said to his Commanding Officer.

"You really should not have done that Sir" Shep now said in a sad voice.   "After all Lucas has been through, I

thought his friends at least would have been there for him."

"Do what Shep?" Bridger now said as the frustration began to creep in his voice.  He felt as though the whole 

conversation was going completely around him and missing him out.  He wanted to know what was going on.

"Is this Mr Woodstock the same one from your college?" Ben now asked, recognizing the name from the night

they had talked about Lucas's past.

"Yes, but there something more that you don't know about." Shep now said knowing he was going to have to

explain to them all.  He loathed to betray Lucas's trust, but he genuinely thought he was doing the right thing.

"You heard Woodstock say something about Lucas's dad?" he asked and saw everybody nod their head.  They

all had heard it but didn't really understand what significance it was to Lucas.

"Well, when all of the abuse was going on between Lucas and his father, Lucas got to the stage where he desperately

sought help from someone to make the beatings and the pain stop.  He didn't know where to turn.  I didn't have any

family to help him so he turned to a teacher at the school…………." he said, leaving the sentence unfinished but 

assuming that the crew would pick up who the teacher was.

"You mean he just ignored what was happening to Lucas and didn't do anything about it?  Ben now asked, finding

his own anger rising at what he was hearing had happened to Lucas.  They had heard all to often what had happened

in this boy's dark past, but each time it was explained again, they could scarcely comprehend that he had been able

to go through it all virtually alone.

"Worse than that Ben" Shep said in sadness as he remembered his friend breaking down and telling him that fateful

day what Woodstock had said when Lucas tried to confide in him.   "Woodstock told him that Lucas was carrying

on like a spoiled child and was probably doing something to anger his father.  In not so many words he said that

Lucas deserved the beatings that he was getting."

Admiral Noyce could barely keep it together as he heard what Woodstock had done and said to Lucas.  Noyce

had never intentionally set it up so that Lucas would be hurt all over again.  He knew that the teacher was from

the teenager's past, but didn't have the slightest idea that he had been responsible for such remarks.

Bridger like most of the crew couldn't believe what torment that boy was forced to endure.  It seemed as though

Shep knew a lot more about Lucas's past than they all dreamed of.  Bridger now walked up to Lucas's closed

door and knocked gently, asking the troubled teenager to let him in.

"Lucas………….." he said a little louder a second time.  There was no response.  The only sound that was coming

from the other side of the room was silence.

TO BE CONTINUED…………………

Hi, sorry it took so long to update.     Hope you like this part.     The whole sabotage idea will be explained yet I

promise.   And with the romance bit, well you can see how bad I was at it so I didn't try and continue much longer

with it, sorry but I really don't have the talent for writing love scenes or romance ……..just the elfy stuff………..

JULES


	5. CHAPTER 5

FRIENDSHIP  
  
Warning - this story may get a little darker towards the end. No hints to ruin the plot but be prepared for new ending.......  
  
It took almost three hours after the conversation with Noyce for Lucas to unlock the door to Bridger's persistent pounding. The rest of the crew, including Shep had thought it best to leave the talking to the Captain at this point in time.  
  
Lucas's emotions were running very raw at the moment and no doubt the next few days were going to be a continual strain.  
  
Bridger had promised the crew to sort out the problem about Woodcock being aboard the depot with Admiral Noyce the next morning before they all began working on their assigned tasks. They were all too aware of the extra stress that would now be placed on the operation to run to schedule at the end of the week.  
  
Right now Bridger told himself that he needed to focus on Lucas, for the rest of the night anyway. Firstly he had to smooth things over between him and the teenager about him not having any idea about Woodcock's presence let alone the past student teacher relationship that had existed.  
  
The lock on the inside of Lucas's quarters turned, signalling that the teenager had unlocked the door. Bridger paused slightly before knocking lightly again and then turning the handle to open the door.  
  
Inside the room, Lucas had returned to laying on the bed with his body laying on it's side away from the doorway as if ignoring anybody who wanted to talk to him or come into the room. This was the next indication to Bridger that the teenager was not being very co-operative at the moment.  
  
Bridger now sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the room without saying a word for a few minutes. He kept looking towards Lucas, waiting to see if the boy would say something first.  
  
"Why?" came the whispered question after a long silence.  
  
Bridger wasn't sure if the word was a question or not and waited to see if the teenager repeated the question or asked another.  
  
"Just tell me why he has to be here?" Lucas now said, turning over to face Bridger with the question.  
  
"I don't know Lucas," the Captain answered truthfully. "Until just a few minutes ago I didn't even realise that you knew one another."  
  
"You sure about that?" Lucas said, the question more of a plea for relief rather than a demanding one.  
  
"I am sure Lucas. I know you talked about your college teacher back on board the boat the other night, but up until just now I didn't even know what the man looked like, let alone recognize him as the man we just met in the corridor," Bridger said as he gave his explanation of his involvement.  
  
"You don't know what it does to me inside to see that man again after all of these years Captain," Lucas now whispered. He kept his eyes on the quilt underneath him the whole time he spoke.  
  
"I know we joked about him the other night and said about all the awful things we did to him. And maybe Shep and I have a lot to answer for back then. But every time I look at him, all I can see is my father. He may not look like him or act like him, but when it comes right down to him, that man did nothing to help me all those years ago," Lucas said.  
  
"Do you know how hard it was for me in the first place to gain enough courage to tell someone about what my father was doing every night of my life?" Lucas asked, not really expecting an answer.  
  
Bridger let the boy speak his mind for now. He would listen to Lucas's story and make comments at the end if necessary. It was more important right now for Lucas to battle the feelings within him about this Mr Woodcock.  
  
"Shep was always at me to tell somebody you know," Lucas now said, laughing a little but no real humour in his voice. "He said to me day after day there for months in our third year that I couldn't go on living at home like I was. He said that one day my father was going to hurt me so bad that I wouldn't be able to leave the house and find help."  
  
"I just kept telling myself and Shep that it wasn't that bad," Lucas admitted. There had been a time in his life that the beatings had almost become mundane. Almost as if it was like he expected it as soon as he walked through the door each day after college. There such a hauntingly bad routine about it all that he found himself lying to himself as well as everybody else including friends and those who did care enough to speak up.  
  
Shep had wanted to do more to help his friend. Lucas had always known that. Shep had even offered for the two of them to runaway together and get jobs somewhere up state, anywhere. Just as long as he could get Lucas away from his father Lawrence. Shep had no family to speak of. He like Lucas was an only child and his parents were dead so he couldn't turn to them for help.  
  
"Finally one afternoon, the beatings did get really bad. I spent a night in hospital that night," Lucas said as he looked up at Bridger to see what thoughts were running through the man's head.  
  
Bridger tried to look sympathetic to Lucas's plight but deep down inside his only thoughts of what he would do if he ever came face to face with Lawrence Wolenczak. There was a deep driven hatred and rage for a man he had heard so much about over the last few years but have never even laid eyes on for more than a few seconds.  
  
"You know what you need to do Lucas," Bridger now stated, trying to come up with a plausible solution to the teenager's feeling of the past creeping back up on him again.  
  
"What?" Lucas said in a tone of voice that spoke of not really wanting to hear any suggestions at the moment.  
  
"You need to show this Mr Woodcock or whatever his name is that you are not the Lucas Wolenczak that he thinks he knows and can manipulate with a few words about what happened a long time ago," Bridger began.  
  
Lucas now back at Bridger, listening to what he was saying.  
  
"You are not under the control of your father anymore Lucas, nor this Mr Woodcock. You have friends around you and a new family that care very much about you. You need to hold onto that with both hands and never let it go. You need to show this teacher that you are doing better than he could have ever thought you would do."  
  
Something in the back of Lucas's mind was agreeing with everything the Captain was saying and the expression on his face was displaying it as well.  
  
"I don't know if I can just forget the past and him like that and push it aside as if nothing ever happened Captain," Lucas answered truthfully. Even after these last few years of SeaQuest, every now and again, the thoughts of what had happened at the hands of his father came back to haunt him once again.  
  
"I am not asking you to forget Lucas, I know it's something that will always be with you. But all you need to do is put the positive aspects of your life now in front of them and push them to the back of your memory. Let the good preside and come out in front," Bridger now added.  
  
"What if he starts giving my a hard time again like he did to me and Shep back in college?" Lucas asked, his mind still ticking over about how he might be able to deal with the teacher.  
  
"Then give him a hard time back, come on Lucas where's this the rebellious teenager we heard so much about with Shep back aboard the boat. Go back to doing what you two did best back in college, annoy the pants of the man and turn the tables somewhat," Bridger said with a grin.  
  
Lucas sat for a moment and then a similar grin began to creep across his own face, "Your right," he suddenly said with a little bit more confidence creeping into this voice and propping up his deflated self-esteem. "We used to give it back to him in his classroom, I just have to get Shep to help me and do it all over again."  
  
"That's the idea, you are a competent young man now with directions of his own and you don't need some old teacher from your school days telling you that you can't do this and that anymore. Show him that you are your own boss nowadays. I will be there to back you up the whole way and I am sure the rest of the crew will be too if you just give them a chance to defend you," Bridger said.  
  
"I'll leave you to have a think about it. I hope you know that we still need you to complete the downloads tomorrow and the next day. We are almost out of time but we need to stick at it and get as much done as possible," Bridger now reminded Lucas.  
  
"Yeah, I know. Shep and I have been at it constantly, but there have been a few hiccups along the way that have slowed us down more than we would like to admit," Lucas now admitted, not fully revealing the information he and Shep had found out about the possible sabotage of the depot's computer related files.  
  
"Well hopefully there will be little if no interruptions tomorrow, if you need extra help just ask."  
  
"No, I would rather not if that's okay. Shep and I are a team if you know what I mean and I don't think either of us would like somebody else coming in to help and step all over our toes. We will get it done more quickly just the two of us," Lucas replied.  
  
"Captain....," Lucas began to say as he tried to find the words to apologize for his outburst back out in the corridor when Woodcock had first been introduced.  
  
Bridger seemed to pick up on what the teenager was trying to say, but let him finished the sentence first.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lucas said and left if at that.  
  
"I know you are Lucas. Although I was a bit worried there at first that I was the one on trouble for something I didn't even know I had done and that you weren't going to talk to me anymore. I hope you have enough trust in me to know that I would never betray our friendship enough for somebody like Woodcock or anybody else for that matter."  
  
"Yeah I know you wouldn't. I just lost my head there for a minute I guess," Lucas said sheepishly.  
  
"I will tell Admiral Noyce to set up a meeting in the morning between us and Woodcock to draw some rules in the sand about what is going to happen over the next few days and who is going to be in charge. I think this teacher needs some to be taught some lessons of his own," said Bridger.  
  
"Can you send Shep in here for a few minutes if he is still out there?" Lucas asked.  
  
"See you later," Bridger said as he nodded his head in agreement to telling Shep it was okay to go in now.  
  
Bridger went back out to the other living room area where most of the crew were still wondering what was going on between Lucas, Shep and this fellow called Woodcock. Bridger did his best to explain about what the teenager was feeling without betraying Lucas's trust about some matters the two of them had discussed just between them.  
  
Bridger also got Jonathan Ford to arrange the video-link meeting between the crew and then told Mr Biggs that he would have to advise Woodcock about the scheduled meeting. Mr Biggs had been a little hesitant and had voiced it in so many words that Mr Woodcock would not be impressed about what had been arranged without his input.  
  
Bridger pointed out that the SeaQuest and her crew had full control and authority of the munitions depot at this point in time and he didn't care if Woodcock liked the meeting or not, he just had to be there. Part of his casual but no-nonsense attitude was supposed to be in defence of the way the man had spoken to Shep and Lucas earlier but he didn't tell anybody that.  
  
Bridger wasn't about to let the teacher bully the two teenagers or anybody else in his crew. If Woodcock had any further ideas about upsetting or tormenting Lucas again about his father then Bridger would forget all about being the Captain of a U.E.O. vessel and dish out some old-time marine punishment for those who were labelled mutineers or rebels against the rest of the crew.  
  
A few seconds later, Shep appeared at the door to Lucas's room but was a little hesitant at first of coming in until Lucas said everything had cooled down somewhat.  
  
"Everything okay Lucas?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah Shep, but you and I need to talk about these downloads before tomorrow morning," Lucas answered.  
  
Shep came into the room and closed the door behind him. For the next hour he and Lucas talked about how best to tackle the download and how to overcome the problems they had encountered so far. Lucas also told Shep about the meeting that was going to be set up between the SeaQuest crew and Woodcock and Admiral Noyce in the morning.  
  
Shep wasn't totally happy with the idea but was happy that Lucas shared with him what he and Bridger had spoken about and how to try and forget the past and turn the tables back on Woodcock's attitude.  
  
"We don't have any glue this time but I will figure out some way to tick the guy off before we leave," Shep said in fun as he tried to think of a great practical joke to carry out on the unsuspecting teacher.  
  
"Actually I would rather just forget all about him and do the job we were asked to do and leave. Once we go from here we won't have to put up with the guy anymore at all anyway. Let's just grin and bear whatever he throws at us without getting riled about it and survive the rest of the week here," Lucas now suggested as a more compromising way.  
  
"Well I guess I had better turn in then if we are going to get an early start in the morning then huh?" Shep now said as he prepared to go to bed for the night. The two were sharing adjoining rooms, as were the rest of the crew. The rooms themselves were small but they shared a bathroom between two rooms and they would do for the short time they would be staying there anyway.  
  
"Night Shep," Lucas said, his mind already beginning to wander towards tomorrow's projects and away from sleep.  
  
"Night Lucas," Shep responded and turned into his pillow, determined to at least get a few hours of shuteye.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Sleep for Lucas on the other hand was the furtherest thing from his mind at the moment. The later the night got and the closer to the morning the clock ticked, the more Lucas thoughts began spinning around. At first he thought about what Bridger and he had spoken about earlier in regards to Woodcock. Then his mind started drifting towards the computer download and the evidence that he had already discovered that made it looked as if somebody had been sabotaging the files very slowly over a long period of time.  
  
Somehow the two subjects started mingling inside his head with one another until the idea began to form that Woodcock might actually know something about the sabotage that had been happening. He didn't quite voice the opinion out loud to himself, but couldn't help but think that maybe Woodcock was a whole lot more involved than anybody had ever thought possible.  
  
At 5.00am he decided that sleep wasn't going to come at all that night and decided to do a little delving on his own into the computer systems. He put on clean clothes and crept as quietly as he could out of the crew's temporary living quarters and made his way silently along the corridors towards the main-frame computer.  
  
For the next hour and a half he went over line after line of encrypted code and file after file for the last few years and tried to sort out the heads and tails about why the data was looking so distorted in places.  
  
He then got into the personnel records as part of the mainframe and looked at the electronic logging on system that would tell him who had access to such information on the computers during these times. There were a few names that he didn't recognize at first and it looked as though he was going to come up empty handed.  
  
But just as he thought that a deleted file showed up in his diagnostics that hadn't shown up in his regular scanning pattern. This file was buried deep into the main frame so that it wasn't supposed to be found again. Almost as if somebody was trying to hide something.  
  
Not only the file deleted but it also had a access password attached to it that sent all sorts of alarm bells off in his mind. Who would go to so much trouble to hide a deleted file and then protect it with a password system as though it were Fort Knox property. Something just didn't add up properly.  
  
Lucas used his hacking skills to break the password code on the file and see what all the secrecy was about. When he finally got into it, which was no small feat, only one name started to read in front of him - Woodcock. There was no way around the truth. Once he could figure out what the man had tried to do and the unlimited access he was afforded as Supervisor of the munitions depot, there was little doubt left that he was the saboteur.  
  
Problem now was that he had to prove it. Of course he could see it right in front of him. But trying to convince somebody like the Captain or Admiral Noyce that Woodcock had been up to no good for a long time, using bits of encrypted code and a deleted file that had a password on it, wasn't going to be in his favour.  
  
Lucas needed something more concrete. He had to work out how to display it in a format that would make the sabotage unmistakable even for somebody who didn't know what they were looking at and secondly he had to record that evidence without Woodcock knowing so he could nail the man before the teacher had any more time to cover his tracks.  
  
Lucas decided that he would have to show Shep exactly what had been going on and together the two of them would have to record the evidence against Woodcock before taking it to the Captain and Admiral Noyce. They would need to be extremely careful that they didn't let on to the teacher what they were doing. They needed it to still look like they were being amateur-like computer kids and just recording the data of the computers like they were asked to.  
  
Lucas was totally unaware that someone was lurking in the shadows and watching him at the computer terminals. The figure decided it best not to show his hand at this stage and made sure that his movements went totally undetected by the teenager.  
  
Woodcock inwardly kicked himself for underestimating the determination and computer skills of the boy. He thought he had put up enough defences and hidden data enough so that most people wouldn't have discovered just what he had been up to all these years. Trouble for him was that Lucas wasn't most people and had the knowledge and skills to uncover the criminal activities.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Back at the crew's quarters, everyone was awake and ready to head to the mess hall for breakfast before they got underway for the day. Shep had noted Lucas's empty bed as had Bridger when he first arose. Neither of them thought there was a problem. Shep had explained to the Captain about Lucas's keenness to complete the task he had been set and Bridger had taken the eagerness to be one of Lucas's ways of trying to focus on something other than the past. Shep promised to go and check on the teenager after breakfast and drag him back to the meeting with Admiral Noyce.  
  
Shep had been the first one to make it back to where the meeting was to take place. He wanted to check that Lucas hadn't returned on his own before going and looking for him. Woodcock on the other hand, although unhappy about being forced to front up to the meeting in the first place, he was the first one to turn up apart from Shep.  
  
Woodcock looked around for anybody else and jumped at the opportunity to talk to Shep without being seen. He had already made the assumption that the friendship between Shep and Lucas was one that he would not be able to severe. The bond was just too strong as he had gauged even back in college between the two boys.  
  
On the other hand he told himself that such a strong friendship might play into his hands and to his advantage of stopping Lucas revealing his knowledge about the sabotage. He knew that Lucas's weakness was his father and the threat of what had happened in the past. Shep, although his skills were not as honed as Lucas's and he probably wasn't as much of a threat as the Wolenczak boy might prove to be.  
  
"Hello Mr Shepherd," Woodcock said smoothly to the teenager.  
  
"What the hell do you want?" Shep said, a little startled at the man's sudden appearance and inwardly a little nervous that nobody else was about. At first he though Woodcock might have come back to upset Lucas again.  
  
"Tsk Tsk, what makes you think that I am here to see you?" Woodcock now said, sensing the boy's thoughts about the welfare of his friend.  
  
"He's not here so you just back off and leave Lucas the hell alone," Shep said aloud, hoping that somebody might hear the conversation and come along at any minute. Unfortunately, Woodcock's timing worked for him and the SeaQuest crew were still having breakfast in the mess hall.  
  
Woodcock wasn't at all convinced yet that Shep had very much if any information about his activities and decided to probe just a little to find out what the boy knew. "You know that if certain people play with things they are not supposed to play with then they may suffer the consequences," Woodcock warned in a threatening tone.  
  
"Don't you dare threaten Lucas or me," Shep now said, trying to put on a brave performance but inside his stomach was tied in knots about what the man might be meaning by such a comment. He knew that the man had his attention focused on Lucas and not him.  
  
"If you mention any of our little conversation......" Woodcock began and left it short enough for the boy to comprehend what the threat meant for Lucas. "You never can tell you know. Lots of dangerous places around here and someone could get lost or hurt. You wouldn't want anything to happen now would you?"  
  
Shep swallowed hard and knew what the man was threatening if he went and told the Captain or any of the other SeaQuest members about his little encounter with the teacher. The man was threatening to hurt Lucas if Shep said anything and there was no way of knowing whether he intended to carry it out or not.  
  
Just as Shep was thinking of what else to say, Captain Bridger and a few other crew members now came walking down the corridor, ready for the meeting with Noyce.  
  
Bridger noted Shep and Woodcock standing outside the doorway. For a minute Shep didn't quite look himself and the boy looked as though something was on his mind. Bridger wondered for a moment if words had already been exchanged between the two of them.  
  
"Everything alright here Shep?" Bridger asked as he tried to put a little breathing space between the boy and the teacher. He knew of Shep's dislike of the teacher and the dislike was probably mutual.  
  
Woodcock was staring straight at Shep as he answered, his expression stoic so as not to give away what he had said to the boy.  
  
"Yeah everything's fine," Shep said with a little nervousness in his voice.  
  
Just as Bridger was about to ask what had been going on, Lucas came walking down the corridor towards the group, a smile on his face until he saw Woodcock. He knew inside he had to hide the information he had about the sabotage until he had a chance to talk to Shep. He was trying to remember the words Bridger had told him about being confident in front of the man.  
  
"Lucas," Shep squeaked, a little relieved to see his friend and that he looked more or less unharmed. "How has the download been going?"  
  
"Slow, but you I can get stuck into it when the meeting is finished," Lucas said, not picking up on the tension between his friend and the teacher. He was trying to deal with the battle inside himself over the teacher at the moment. Part of him just didn't want to be anywhere near the man no matter what Bridger said. "This isn't going to take long is it Captain?" Lucas now asked, focusing his attention on the others.  
  
Bridger was pleased to see that Lucas was at least trying to do what he suggested. Whilst he could see the boy's struggle to remain calm, he gave the boy full points for hiding his true feelings at the moment and maintaining his composure.  
  
"I sincerely hope not Captain," Woodcock now added. "I have many more things to do today," he continued, looking directly at Shep the whole time, his words having two different meanings.  
  
"Come on in everybody, Admiral Noyce should be on line in a minute. We will get this underway and appreciate everyone's co-operation until it is finished," Bridger said trying to dispel and of the uneasy feeling.  
  
*****************************************************************  
  
After a few minutes, Admiral Noyce appeared on the Video screen and looked about the room to see who had turned up to the meeting that Bridger had suggested and arranged.  
  
"Good Morning Captain, Lucas and everybody else in the room."  
  
"Good Morning Bill," Bridger said as he took control of the meeting.  
  
"Hello Admiral," Lucas greeted the man back. Everyone else in the room whispered and mumbled half-hearted greetings to the man on the screen in front of them.  
  
Admiral Noyce was pleasantly surprised by the calmness in Lucas's voice. Only a few hours ago the teenager had been scathing in his attack and let the Admiral have a piece of his mind, despite his ranking in the U.E.O.  
  
"Before we get underway, Lucas I just wanted to say that I am sorry," Noyce said. He left it at that due to Woodcock's presence in the room. He didn't know how much the man knew about the argument that had ensued yesterday between himself and Lucas over Woodcock's surprise appearance.  
  
"I am too Admiral," Lucas looking sideways at Woodcock. "Its water under the bridge now," he added, signalling that it was time to talk about something else before both of them said too much then they really should. There would be time later on in the day to make a personal apology to the Admiral for his outburst.  
  
"Now Mr Woodcock, I understand that you have some qualms about who is in charge during this operation," Noyce said taking on a very official stance and tone of voice.  
  
"Let's just say that I am not happy about the way that Captain Bridger and his so called crew think they can just come aboard my depot and call the shots," Woodcock said back, not hiding his contempt for the idea of the two boys even being allowed there in the first place.  
  
"Well let me tell you Mr Woodcock and you listen well," Noyce said, making sure that he had the man's complete and full attention. "While the SeaQuest is docked there you can consider Captain Bridger as in charge under my authority. Further more if you are referring to the young men in the room Lucas and Joshua then let me remind you that I hand picked this team to complete this operation. I wanted Lucas on this project even before I chose the SeaQuest. So what he says goes. I know he might be young, but in the field of computer and electronics he is the best and there is no denying that. Anything else you have a problem with over these next few days I suggest you bring up with Captain Bridger. I am sure Nathan would be more than willing to show you his way of handling things."  
  
Noyce could see the sly smirk on Bridger's face that the Captain understood the meaning of the words "handling things". Unfortunately Woodcock also knew that he was outnumbered and if any problems arose with the two teenagers, then he would immediately be in the wrong because of the close relationship between the Captain and the Wolenczak boy.  
  
"I can see that this whole meeting is a complete waste of time Admiral," Woodcock said in disgust and promptly got up and walked out of the room, steaming all the way. He knew that whatever had to be done to silence the Wolenczak kid about his findings would have to be done on his own without warning or assistance from anybody.  
  
"That went well didn't it?" Noyce now said with a slight smile to Bridger.  
  
"There is lots of work to do Admiral," Lucas said as he too prepared to leave the room. He wasn't unhappy about the way the Captain and Admiral had belittled the teacher in front of everybody. It was just that he was trying his utmost to forget and this wasn't making it any easier for him just to ignore the man and complete the job at hand.  
  
"I think I will stay here and talk to the Captain for a few minutes Lucas," Shep now said, trying to find the courage to speak to them about the threats that Woodcock had made about Lucas.  
  
Lucas didn't read anymore into it than what Shep was saying "Okay, I will meet you soon then. I am going to get something to eat first and then keep going," he said.  
  
"I will check on progress about this time tomorrow Nathan," Noyce said and terminated the video-link.  
  
"What did you want to talk to me about Shep?" Bridger began to ask. Kristen and Ben too gathered around to ask, clearly seeing something on the young man's mind.  
  
"Uh, it's okay, I just was going to ask how you thought Lucas was doing this morning," Shep asked, inwardly kicking himself for chickening out already. Problem was that the words Woodcock had uttered were all too fresh in his memory and he kept hearing them over and over again while he was trying to talk to Captain Bridger and the others.  
  
He would have to wait until he had regained enough courage to speak out and try again. Maybe he should even talk it over first with Lucas about what Woodcock had said. But right at the moment with Lucas just beginning to look relaxed slightly after yesterday, Shep wasn't quite ready to head down that path just yet.  
  
"Oh I think you will find that Lucas is a lot tougher than we all give him credit for," Bridger said trying to reassure Shep that Lucas would work out his problems mostly on his own. He knew that Shep was worried about Lucas just as much as he was but they all needed to believe that Lucas had found a way to battle the demons on his own.  
  
"Yeah you are probably right," Shep said, trying to deflect the guilt he was feeling at present. Why couldn't he just come out and say it he scolded himself. "I think I will go and find him for myself anyway," he added.  
  
"See you later then," Bridger said a little puzzled at Shep's soundly a little vague and unsure of himself. Maybe the problem with Woodcock was beginning to get to him as well and he wasn't letting on so much by showing his concern about Lucas. Bridger promised himself to keep an eye on Josh just that bit more too over the next day or so.  
  
"That's why they call them teenagers Nathan," Kristen said as she prepared to go off with Ben and start the day of packing up that had been arranged. They too had loads of work to complete before the days end.  
  
"Don't remind me, they get more confusing every day," Nathan said as he started listening to Commander Ford's down run of the operation so far.  
  
On the way back to the computer room, Shep was telling himself that he was worrying over nothing and that Woodcock would have very little opportunity if any at all of causing problems for Lucas before they left the depot all together. He told himself that he was just getting all worked up over nothing.  
  
When he entered the room though and saw that the computer terminals were all vacant, the fears he had just tried to dispel one again multiplied with force. He looked around the room in a panic wondering where his friend could be. Lucas had left just after Woodcock. Woodcock had left the meeting before any of them. He would have had enough opportunity to hide away in wait for an unsuspecting Lucas, ready to pounce on the teenager when nobody else was around to help him.  
  
Shep ran back towards Captain in the living quarters, almost out of breath by the time he got there. The words he spoke to Bridger sent a shiver up the Captain's spine....  
  
"Lucas is missing......." he blurted out all at once.  
  
Bridger was ready to begin panicking on his own when he made himself calm down enough to ask some logical questions. He knew that Shep was in a state way beyond rational thought over Lucas, but he had to try and figure out what was so wrong.  
  
"Lucas isn't in the computer room is he?" Bridger asked firstly, knowing that was were the teenager had been headed after the meeting.  
  
"You don't understand," Shep yelled back, wanting the Captain to go looking immediately. "He is missing. I can't find him anywhere," he added, having not really looked anywhere else.  
  
"Where would he be?" Bridger asked himself more than anybody else. By this stage, Bridger assumed that Shep was just being a little over cautious about Lucas not being where he was supposed to be. He had only been there a few minutes ago. Nothing could have happened in such a short space of time. Could it.....  
  
In another part of the munitions depot, Lucas wasn't scared exactly. He actually thought himself to be on the receiving end of one of Ben's practical joke pay backs. The room was dark so he couldn't exactly see where he was, the light had gone out as soon as he entered the room when somebody shut the door behind him.  
  
The thing he did know was that the room he was in was very cold...... he tried the handle but nothing, it wouldn't budge and then had to bundle his hands underneath his t-shirt to stop the cold seeping in. Boy it was freezing in here.......  
  
"Ben that's enough now...... Ben.... God-damn you Ben let me out of here now ... I'm cold.... You just wait until I get out of here Ben Krieg...... I'm freezing in here.... at least give me a blanket or something... come on it's really cold in here ...... BEN ?????  
  
Nothing no response to his calls. The only sound that he couldn't hear due to the closed door was the sound of footsteps as they walked away, the figure satisfied that the task had been carried out successfully for the time being. Only time would tell if his plan worked or not........  
  
TO BE CONTINUED............  
  
So where is Lucas ???????????? I bet your all just itching to know..... that's why I didn't tell you yet......  
  
You will get bits and pieces of anything over the next couple of weeks as I try and spark some spirit and interest back into my writing. A mixed bag really - never know what you are going to get.  
  
I know I have neglected Kristen and Ben somewhat in the last couple of posts - it's not deliberate - just using Bridger and Shep more and Woodcock of course.  
  
This is not the ending I have planned - more to come.  
  
JULES 


	6. CHAPTER 6

FRIENDSHIP  
  
Bridger and Shep now walked into the room where Lucas had been working on the mainframe computer. Still no Lucas to be seen. Whilst Bridger had been a little more casual about the teenager's sudden disappearance, Shep had run all the way from their living quarters to here, trying to wrack his brain about what might have happened to his friend.  
  
"Why isn't he here, where the hell can he be?" Shep now said in a strained voice. He was trying hard to disguise the worry he had about Lucas but was failing miserably. The words of threat that Woodcock had uttered only a few hours ago now seemed to shout back at him in side his head. He cursed himself for not having the guts to tell Captain Bridger about what the teacher had said or threatened to do.  
  
It seemed that Woodcock had carried out those threats too. What had he done to Lucas in such a short space of time?  
  
"I am sure he is around Shep," Bridger said, his own uneasiness starting to grow as he started to follow the younger man's lead. He didn't have any idea about Woodcock's possible involvement in all of this, but neither did he have a plausible explanation for Lucas absence.  
  
"You don't understand but Captain, he was just here only a few minutes ago and now he is gone. I can't find him anywhere," Shep replied trying to demonstrate the urgency of finding his friend without divulging anything about what Woodcock had said.  
  
"Okay, so if he was only here a few minutes ago, where could he go?" Bridger said calmly, trying to take control of the situation and get Shep to rationalise his thoughts and actions a little more. Being hysterical at a moment like this wasn't going to help anybody at all, least of all Lucas.  
  
"Nobody else has seen him either Captain, I already checked with some other workers," Shep now informed Bridger.  
  
"Let's go and talk to the rest of the crew for a few minutes and ask if any of them have seen Lucas in the last few minutes," Bridger said but could see the strain of frustration about time wasting, clearly evident on the boy's face.  
  
"If they haven't then we will split up into a couple of search groups and organise a proper search in case he got lost wandering around the depot on his own. This is a very large facility and it could be easy enough to get confused down any maze of these inner corridors," Bridger continued.  
  
Reluctantly, Shep did as Bridger suggested and followed him to find the other crew members. Most of them were split into smaller groups of two or three. After a few minutes they had all gathered together back at their quarters to discuss organizing a search for the still missing Lucas.  
  
The other crew members were slightly concerned that the teenager couldn't be located anywhere within the depot. They were all a little puzzled at Shep's outward display though and just how worried Lucas's friend appeared to be about the whole thing. They couldn't help but wonder if there was something he wasn't letting them in on.  
  
Bridger too had thought the very same thing, but for now they had to concentrate on finding Lucas. If he truly was missing like Shep said, maybe there was a totally reasonable explanation for his disappearance.  
  
Bridger and Commander Ford took control of the search party and split people into groups of two or three. They had a lot of ground to cover through the maze of corridors of the depot.  
  
Shep joined the group of Bridger, Kristen and Ben. He wasn't too keen on going off with any of the other crew members. All he was worried about was finding Lucas as quickly as possible. He wished there was some way of squeezing the information out of Woodcock without risking his friend's life any further.  
  
After all the other groups had organized which areas each of them would search, Bridger decided to get as much information from Shep as possible so that they could find the missing teenager.  
  
Shep was in a rush to get things started but Bridger held him firmly but gently by his shoulders, "We have to go about this the right way or we will just end up chasing our tails and getting nowhere and not helping Lucas at all."  
  
Shep nodded his head in agreement. He knew what the Captain was trying to tell him was the best way to solve the problem was to have a plan.  
  
"When was the last time you saw him?" Bridger asked, hoping it was a starting point.  
  
"Right after the meeting with Admiral Noyce here," Shep said as he tried to think back so they had something to go on. "I stayed here to talk to you. Lucas said he wanted to keep going and get something to eat. He said he wanted to show me something important. He seemed a little edgy that about whatever it was.  
  
"I think we are jumping to conclusions here," Bridger said seeing that Shep was letting his emotions get the better of him. "After you finished talking to me where did you go next?"  
  
"I went to the main frame room thinking Lucas would have grabbed a snack by now and be already back at it," Shep Explained.  
  
"Is there any where else you can think of that he might have gone before you got there? Maybe he thought of something else he had to do but just didn't tell you," Bridger now said trying to think of another plausible reason.  
  
"No you don't understand. He just wouldn't go anywhere like this and not tell me. Something is wrong I can feel it and we have to find him now, Shep said, now on the verge of shouting. How could he make the Captain see that this was more serious than he could possibly tell?  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
While Bridger and the Commander Ford worried about splitting people into groups for a search party, Lucas was dealing with matters of his own.  
  
It had now been well over an hour since the door had been closed and locked behind Lucas, leaving him alone in his cold prison cell. And a prison cell was the only way to describe his surroundings at the moment.  
  
The room was still pitch black from no light. At first Lucas had tried several times to get the door to release, despite the freezing conditions within. Another few occasions he had even tried breaking the lock on the door to get it open. His efforts turned out to be in vain though and all he got in return was a bruised shoulder and a soggy shirt.  
  
For the first ten minutes or so Lucas had really believed himself to be on the receiving end of a late attempt at a practical joke from Ben Krieg. As the time wore on though and the room he was in became colder and his situation a little more serious, be knew that his friend would never have carried such a joke this far.  
  
Lucas was still in no position to help himself though because of the lack of lighting in the room. He assumed that he must be locked away in some sort of cold room or freezer. There were icicles forming on the ends of his hair and he needed to continuously rub his bicep muscles and thighs to regain some of the heat and mobility he had already lost.  
  
He knew that if he didn't find a way out of his predicament or someone didn't come to help get him out real soon then things would get even more peril.  
  
"Boy it's really getting cold in here," he said to himself as the temperature seemed to plummet again and he shivered in response.  
  
It was no secret aboard the SeaQuest that Lucas hated the cold. He was normally more grumpier than normal and the fact that he had to wrap himself up in two or three layers just to cope with such a miserable season only made him determined to hate winter more.  
  
"Come on Wolenczak you have to help yourself here," Lucas chastised himself. As much as he hated the idea, he now walked carefully around the perimeter of the room, or as much as he could feel. Looking for the elusive light switch.  
  
He thought it would have sensibly been put beside the doorway but even trying to navigate his way back to that position proved more of a task than Lucas first thought. He tripped over an unseen obstacle and swore loudly at the stinging sensation he felt in his leg as a result.  
  
After what seemed like an incredibly long time and another obstacle, Lucas finally found what he sought and his shivering and trembling fingertips reached the light switch.  
  
The room was not illuminated by a dull shade of yellow. The light bulb seemed to be objecting to the drop in temperature as well and was only giving off a certain portion of its light in protest.  
  
From what light was offered, Lucas could now see that his assumptions had been right about his surroundings. He was indeed in some sort of cold room or freezer. There were cardboard cartons of frozen produce, some opened, some still sealed. The back shelves seemed relatively empty at the moment but that stood to reason as the depot was being prepared for demolition.  
  
Lucas was now shivering violently and it didn't seem to make of a difference how much he rubbed at his limbs to try and get his blood circulating and keep himself warm. He was only clad in a pair of normal jeans and a fairly thinly made t-shirt with elbow length sleeves.  
  
Lucas now started to walk around the room a little bit more to try and keep his muscles moving. He knew that he couldn't afford to stop for any extended length of time before he would succumb to the cold conditions.  
  
Periodically he brought his hands together around his mouth and blew into them, trying to use his breath to try and keep his fingers moving. The thin layers of clothes he wore were no barrier against the cold conditions and he was starting to feel lethargic and sleepy at times.  
  
At some point during his pacing around the room he found an old piece of Hessian bag. Like the ones that were often used for carrying large quantities of vegetables such as potatoes. He didn't know it was there but he tried in vain to use its material value to try and add warm to his body. It proved to be of little benefit though as the rough fibres were tattered in many places and frozen in others.  
  
Lucas found that his leg muscles were now protesting about his constant movement efforts. The cold was seeping in to every nerve ending in his thin frame. His legs were becoming increasingly stiff and ached from the cold. After another ten minutes with no sign of help he now sat down by the door, huddling his legs and knees close to his chest in an effort to conserve as much body heat as possible.  
  
Bridger and the search parties were trying there best to think of places were Lucas might be or have wandered off to and got himself confused and lost. It was becoming more and more apparent that Lucas had not just gone into another area of the depot.  
  
Commander Ford and Ben Krieg had been searching a different part of the computer areas, but now found themselves meeting up again with the Captain's search party empty handed.  
  
"Any luck yet Commander?" Bridger asked in a hopeful voice.  
  
"No dice Captain Sir, not a sign of Lucas anywhere. We are running out of places to keep looking," he added, trying not to sound negative. Ford knew that Ben Krieg was as worried as much as Shep was. Ben had been unusually quiet and subdued whilst they conducted the search. Not something that was the norm with the morale officer.  
  
"So what do we do now?" Kristen asked as he tried to put a reassuring hand on Shep's shoulder. The dark haired teenager was becoming more and more worried about Lucas as the minutes ticked by.  
  
Back in the cold room, Lucas was barely able to keep himself awake now. The cold was taking an unmistakable toll. He knew that he had to try and let others know where he was. But how? The cold room itself would probably be constructed of an aluminium like alloy and be hard to penetrate with just his own voice.  
  
Whilst Lucas was trying desperately of how to get himself out, a few more strands of his freezing hair fell into his eyes. He didn't have the energy enough to lift his head up properly and compromised with raising his eyes at the limp, wet locks as they fell over his forehead and into his eyes.  
  
Suddenly his attention was draw to something further above him. He was looking upwards and now deliberately lifted his head, partially getting up from the floor with an idea in mind. His muscles ached in protest but he ignore it for the time being as a surge of adrenalin rushed through his system.  
  
Just above head height was a series of metal pipes. They looked as though they ran the width of the cold room itself and continue on somewhere outside the room. Being made of metal, even if they contained frozen substances, any sound made on them should create a loud enough sound to travel down the length of the pipes and possibly out to someone to hear where the noise was coming from.  
  
Lucas now looked quickly around the room to find something that would be heavy enough for his purpose. At first there seemed to be nothing of consequence that could be used. He was about to shout out in frustration when he spotted a red handle resting on one of the shelves right at the back.  
  
He reached out with his hand and when he picked up the handle, found it belonging to a wrench. Probably used in the past to fix the pipes he intended to strike with it.  
  
Lucas knew that he had to try and attract someone's attention as quickly as possible. He tested out his theory about the noise travelling along the pipes and was rewarded by the tinkle sound that the wrench made against the metal of the pipe. With renewed vigour he now struck the pipe continuously hoping that it wouldn't take too long to find him or the source of the noise.  
  
Bridger and the SeaQuest crew were now all together, trying to come up with another strategy in searching for the still missing Lucas. Bridger was asking the other crew members if they had any other suggestions to add when Mr Biggs came bustling along the corridors, apparently looking as though he was in great haste.  
  
"Captain, I must put forward my strongest opposition to this intolerable noise you are creating," Biggs said in his best official sounding voice.  
  
"What intolerable noise Mr Biggs. We are not making any undue noise and at the moment have a missing teenager to find that is more important," Bridger said in an annoyed voice at the timid man before him. "Mr Woodcock protests strongly about the infernal tapping sound that has been echoing through some of the corridors for the past ten minutes or so," Biggs now said, sounding a little dubious that the Captain didn't know what noise he meant.  
  
"Mr Biggs, you can go back and tell your Mr Woodcock that I really don't give a .....," Bridger started to say but pulled up in mid sentence. "When did you say this noise started?"  
  
"About ten minutes ago and it hasn't stopped since," Biggs replied indignantly.  
  
"What does it sound like?" Bridger now said with a little anticipation in his expression.  
  
"Come and I will show you," Biggs suggested, not really sure why he was showing these people when they were clearly responsible, or so he had been informed by Woodcock.  
  
The teacher and his assistant were unaware of Lucas's attempts to signal someone for help. Woodcock had assumed that the cold room would have been relatively sound proof from the surrounding areas of the depot.  
  
The crew proceeded to follow Biggs as quickly as possible to the area that the noise could clearly be heard. They now all cocked their ears towards the sound, trying to work out what was making it and where is was coming from.  
  
"Sounds like something metal," Commander Ford replied after a few seconds of uninterrupted hearing.  
  
"I think your right Jonathan," Bridger agreed. "Mr Biggs my crew and I are not responsible for this noise but we have a missing crew member, Lucas and it is possible that he is lost in this maze of corridors somewhere. Just maybe he has found a way to try and let us know where to try and find him."  
  
"Oh you mean the other young fellow," Biggs replied, looking directly at Shep. He hadn't really given the teenager's much though since the heated meeting between the two youths and his boss Mr Woodcock.  
  
"Yes, Lucas has been missing for well over and hour and we have been looking everywhere to try and find him," Bridger informed him.  
  
"It is possible to try and locate where the sound is coming from. It might be coming from behind a wall or something," Ford now suggested, thinking that Lucas had merely been caught up in the maze of endless corridors. Like a niche.  
  
"Let's find out," Kristen now said as she led the way with Shep following close behind her. They weren't waiting around for any more chit chat until they found Lucas.  
  
At first they had headed in the wrong direction. They could hear the tapping still, but as they went in one direction, the noise seemed to fade somewhat. They paused briefly as took more steps the other way, then hearing the noise becoming a little clearer and more defined.  
  
Back in the cold room, Lucas was growing incredibly tired again. The endless tapping with his arm slightly raised above his head became monotonous to the point where he could barely hold his arm over his head any further. He found himself pausing from time to time and the breaks in between were becoming more frequent and longer each time.  
  
"It's getting closer," Ben Krieg said with a positive attitude as he now took over the lead of the group in search of the tapping source. He was sure that it was Lucas doing the tapping, telling them where he was. He just hoped that he was alright when they finally found him.  
  
Bridger and the searchers now came across the unused galley that they had been shown when they first arrived. The sound had been followed all the way to this very area. The sound itself had become fainter and fainter until stopping altogether just a few short seconds ago.  
  
Bridger saw the cold room door and felt a pang of fear run through him at the thought that this was where Lucas was trapped inside. He put his hand on the handle and could already feel the coldness that was coming within.  
  
"Lucas?" Bridger now shouted at the door. The others now joined him at the door, hoping that the Captain was not right about Lucas being inside. "Lucas are you in there, can you hear me?"  
  
There was no response to his calls. He tried pulling on the handle a few times but knew that it would take a lot more force to open the door completely.  
  
"Get something to get this door open now," Bridger shouted at Biggs in a tone that didn't want excuses or explanations but quick and decisive action.  
  
"Right away," Biggs now said as he scurried away to find something as he was told. He had no idea of what his boss had done to Lucas and was not of a cold- hearted nature to see such a fate inflicted upon anybody, accidentally or otherwise.  
  
"Give me a hand here," Bridger now instructed Ben and Commander Ford. He wasn't about to rely on the likes of Biggs to come to Lucas's rescue if he was indeed inside like they thought he might be.  
  
Ben and Shep had continued attempting to call out Lucas's name, hoping for a response. They too were disappointed when their calls went unanswered.  
  
"Katie you and I need to prepare some blankets and other essential items. If Lucas is inside that freezer, we have no idea about what condition he might be in when we finally get that door open," Kristen said.  
  
The only confirmation that Ben and the others got that Lucas might be trapped inside the cold room was the resounding tapping that they had been hearing for the past few minutes. They were not as consistent as earlier and were much softer than before.  
  
Just as Kristen and Kate went back the way they had come to gather what they thought would be needed, Biggs returned with a heavy looking tool box and two long handled levers. He didn't know what would be needed and could not find too many other people about to help due to the moving of the depot's residents.  
  
"Got what I could find, I hope it is enough," Biggs offered as he handed Bridger and Commander Ford each one of the levers.  
  
Ben you and Shep try and see if there are screwdrivers or something to get the door hinges off. Jonathan and I will use these to try and jar the door open if that doesn't work. We will probably have to work in tandem rather than all together.  
  
Inside the freezer, Lucas was now sitting slumped against the wall as he had been earlier. His leg muscles no longer held the strength to hold him up and his arm could no longer be raised high enough to tap the wrench against the pipes. The wrench lay discarded a short distance from him on the floor.  
  
All he could do was hope that the noise he made was enough to alert someone to his whereabouts. At one point he thought he heard voices outside the door, but he told himself that the room was too thick to allow any voice to be heard and it might be a while yet before someone came to his rescue.  
  
As these thoughts entered his head, Lucas's energy levels dropped dramatically and he found himself almost laying on the cold, hard concrete floor. He could no longer fight off the cold or the overwhelming need to close his eyes and sleep. He was unconscious by the time his face touched the cold cement floor.  
  
Bridger and the others were steadily making process on opening the door as Lucas found himself falling asleep.  
  
They were all too wrapped up in their task at hand to see the shadowy figure of Woodcock sneak passed what was happening. He could see their attempts to open the door and released the teenager. There was no telling whether or not the boy was still alive but given the vigour with which they were attacking the door, they all obviously thought he was.  
  
When he had locked the door, he had used a large metal frying pan to disable the locking mechanism. It would make any attempts to open the door that much more difficult and delay their response time in helping the teenager inside.  
  
The time was probably too short for his desired result. He would just have to make sure he didn't fail next time he told himself as he withdrew himself from view before someone could spot him.  
  
"Alllmosttttt...." Commander Ford uttered through clenched teeth as he leaned even harder on the lever to try and release the door. Their progress had been tediously slow and everyone was on edge about getting it open quicker.  
  
Without warning, the door's lock finally gave into the force being placed on it. Commander Ford had not been prepared for the kick back from the lever and now nursed a probably bruised hand as a result of his slow reaction time.  
  
He didn't have time to think much about him though as Bridger and Kristen, followed by Shep pushed passed him to get inside the cold room.  
  
Their hearts seized with fear as they came upon the site they were hoping not to find: Lucas laying inside the cold room. He was still unconscious and the cold had taken all of the colour from his face.  
  
"Katie, the blankets quickly," Kristen signalled as she took them from her and began placing two of them directly over Lucas. She wanted him out of here as quickly as possible but had to assess that he was okay to be moved first.  
  
As the warm of the blankets began to fight of the coldness of his body, Lucas now began shivering uncontrollably. His limbs were trembling from the cold as Bridger took his hand and tried softly calling his name, hoping for a response.  
  
"Is he alright?" Shep asked in a voice that clearly showed the worry he held for his friend.  
  
"He should be," Kristen said, trying to give Shep some reassurance. "He is just incredibly cold after being in here for who knows how long. We just have to get him warmed up, both on the outside and the inside," she added.  
  
Lucas remained unresponsive during the entire brief examination by Kristen. "Okay I think we can safely move him," she announced, signalling for Ben and Bridger to lift him between them and carry him back to their quarters where she would assess his condition more accurately.  
  
Whilst the SeaQuest crew were doing that, Biggs was trying to find a way to shut the cold room down. His efforts were more like putting the cart before the horse had bolted, but his concern seemed genuine enough to those around him so they didn't tell him that it was a waste of time.  
  
Kristen informed Biggs that the SeaQuest would be able to adequately see to Lucas's medical needs for the remainder of their stay. There was less than two days remaining before they would all be leaving anyway. Biggs seemed satisfied with this arrangement and promised to check up on Lucas's condition later on and left to continue his other duties aboard the depot.  
  
When everyone arrived back at the rooms, Kristen instructed Lucas to be taken into the room that he and Shep were sharing. She allowed Bridger, Ben and Shep to stay during the examination but everyone else waited out in the living room for news about how Lucas was doing. Lucas was still shivering violently as she attempted to place more warm blankets over his body. She could see the icicles forming on the boy's hair and gave Bridger a heated towel, instructing him to dry Lucas's hair as much as possible to prevent him becoming even more chilled than he already was.  
  
"Told him he should have cut his hair," Bridger joked as he used the towel.  
  
Shep and Ben gave the Captain half a smile but were too concerned with their friend's lack of response to reply.  
  
By now Kristen had a thermometer in Lucas's mouth to see just how cold his body temperature was whilst she assessed the rest of his body for further possible injuries. She had Ben assist her in stripping of Lucas's damp clothes and replace them with warmer, much drier ones.  
  
"How did he get locked in such a place in the first place is what I want to know?" Bridger asked to no-one in particular. At this point in time he had no indication that what had happened was more than an accident. His brain was ticking over about the cause of that accident, but he had no idea about Woodcock's involvement.  
  
Shep on the other hand, kept a stoic look on his face the whole time Kristen was examining Lucas and attempting to get him warm again. He could think of nobody else but Woodcock and how the man had promised to hurt Lucas only a few hours earlier.  
  
How could he tell Bridger and Kristen what was going on without putting Lucas's life at further risk until they left the depot. Would Lucas know that it was an accident or something more sinister.  
  
Shep's second thought seemed to be answered temporarily as Lucas began turning his head from side to side on the pillow, signalling that he was regaining consciousness. He was muttering in his sleep, caught up in what he thought was a dream.  
  
"Ben.....Ben..let me out," Lucas now said in a hoarse voice.  
  
Bridger and Kristen looked at the young Lieutenant at the mention of his name. They already knew that there was no way Ben would have had anything to do with the cold room door being locked and damaged the way it was.  
  
"It's cold in here..... please let me out," Lucas mumbled again as he relived the time he was in the cold room. "Ben let me out," he said again and then seemed to relax back into a deeper sleep. The moving about and words stopped.  
  
Ben couldn't have felt worse if he tried. He knew that what happened wasn't his fault. He knew that the crew would tell him exactly that. But somehow Lucas had come to the belief that his being locked in the cold room was part of Ben's pay back practical joke.  
  
"He doesn't realise what he is saying Ben," Kristen said as she continued to fuss over the sleeping teenager.  
  
"I swear I will never play another practical joke as long as I live," Ben muttered and then excused himself to join the rest of the crew outside in the living room. All of a sudden it felt very crowded in the room.  
  
"I hope he understands that this wasn't his fault," Shep said as he watched Krieg leave. Although he was carrying around a great deal of guilt on his own, he knew Krieg's ability to make them all laugh would be sorely missed if Ben kept true to his word.  
  
Shep had to admit even though the Lieutenant's upbeat personality rubbed off onto most people he came into contact with. He had even been fortunate to see the same result in Lucas.  
  
It was normally no easy task to get Lucas to laugh along with you and show everyone the real Lucas that was often hidden beneath a hardened outer shell. Ben seemed to do it exceptionally well despite it occasionally being at inopportune times.  
  
Shep couldn't help but notice how quiet the Captain had been since they brought Lucas back to his room.  
  
Ben seemed to display his worry and concern through frustration and much more vocal outbursts.  
  
Bridger did exactly the opposite. He went incredibly quiet and seemed to withdraw into himself and a period of deep thought. Although they were not blood related, Shep couldn't help but see some similar traits in Lucas.  
  
"I think all we can do is wait now," Kristen said as she stood away from the bed but still observed from a distance.  
  
"Is he going to be alright?" Bridger said asking the obvious question.  
  
"Well his body temperature is steadily beginning to rise which is a good sign," Kristen now informed Bridger and Shep.  
  
"He is still shivering," Bridger said, explaining the slight trembling he could feel from the teenager's body as he held onto Lucas's hand.  
  
"Yes and considering the coldness of that freezer, I expect that to keep up for a few more hours at least," Kristen stated.  
  
"Do you need somebody to stay with him tonight?" Bridger asked. "Do you know of any volunteers that might be up for the job," Kristen responded, poking partially in fun.  
  
"The Captain and I could do it in turns," Shep now interjected.  
  
Kristen smiled at Shep for his offer to help. She had already guessed who the volunteers would be. She knew from previous experience that there would be no way of dragging Bridger away from Lucas's side tonight.  
  
"So long as it is a team effort," she responded, trying to at least sound as if she had a say in the discussion.  
  
"We will take good care of him," Shep announced.  
  
There was still a couple of hours left before nightfall so Bridger suggested that Shep be left to keep an eye on Lucas. That way he could be reasonably certain that Shep wouldn't wear himself out by remaining awake all night and Bridger could still see to some of the final preparations for the evacuation of the depot. The Captain would also be able to catch up on a few hours of sleep before taking over from Shep.  
  
Kristen would also be on hand to assess Lucas's condition throughout the night in case there were any sudden changes. She wanted to be on alert in case Lucas showed any signs of succumbing to any adverse symptoms from being so cold for such a prolonged period of time.  
  
For the remainder of the afternoon, Lucas's condition remained for the most part unchanged.  
  
Kristen had given strict instructions to both Shep and Bridger about gently trying to arouse Lucas from his deep sleep. The doctor knew that he slept because his muscles had been so drained of energy from the cold. But she needed to assure herself that the deep healing sleep was nothing more than that.  
  
Lucas had regained consciousness about an hour after being wrapped in the warm blankets. While he seemed coherent at first, it was also clear to those around him that he was somewhat confused about what had happened.  
  
Bridger had tried his best to answer the boy's vague questions when he asked them. Lucas's voice sounded quite hoarse initially and it was barely above a whisper.  
  
Lucas's eyelids began drooping almost immediately again though and Kristen nodded her agreement in allowing him to go back to sleep. She seemed satisfied that it was the best course of medicine she could offer for the time being.  
  
The doctor would need to keep a close eye on his breathing and chest over the nest couple of days. A chest infection could result if she wasn't diligent enough before it really got a chance to take hold.  
  
There was very little other than that she could do for the time being. It was mostly up to Lucas's body to overcome any weakness that resulted from the cold.  
  
***************************************************  
  
Up until about 11.00pm that night, Lucas seemed content enough to remain cocooned in his blankets to get over his ordeal.  
  
Earlier in the night as he slept and Shep kept a watch, the other crew members had tried to find out how Lucas had been locked in the cold room.  
  
The reality of what had happened to Lucas as a direct result of Woodcock's threat hit Shep hard as he watched over his friend. He wasn't prepared to put Lucas's life in any further danger by telling the other crew members what he knew about Woodcock's involvement.  
  
Part of him knew that keeping what he knew as a secret was betraying the trust of the Captain and his crew. But the other part of his subconscious couldn't risk something more happening to Lucas.  
  
As Shep looked on, Lucas turned onto his side, making himself more comfortable. Shep knew that sometime in the not so distant future he would have 2 reveal what he knew.  
  
He was determined that he would talk to Lucas first though and between them they would find a way to overcome Woodcock's threats.  
  
"Whatever we do Lucas, we will do it together," Shep said as he continued his late night vigil.  
  
It was dead on the stroke of midnight when Bridger gently tapped on the door and then opened it and walked in.  
  
He couldn't help but grin at the sight before him. It appeared that at some stage, young Shep had lost his battle with sleep and now was joined in slumber with Lucas. Shep was still sitting slumped in a chair beside the bed.  
  
Bridger awoke Shep with a gentle shake of his shoulder. The dark-haired teenager seemed somewhat embarrassed that he had fallen asleep but the Captain assured him that it was okay.  
  
"I can take over now for a few hours. You go and get some proper sleep in a bed because Lucas will be looking to talk to you when he wakes up in the morning," Bridger said, trying to remain positive for Shep's sake.  
  
Something about Shep's demeanour since finding Lucas in the cold room told Bridger that the teenager had something else on his mind other than just worry. He knew from experience with Lucas that the more he pushed, the more Shep was likely to rebel against being questioned though.  
  
"Okay but wake me if there is any change or you need me for anything," Shep said as he got up from the chair and retreated to his own bed. True to her word, Kristen had come in on several occasions to check on Lucas's temperature. She frowned a little when she felt a slight fever on one such visit. It wasn't too high and was most probably only his body's defences trying to get back to normal after being shocked by the cold.  
  
She wasn't prepared to become too worried just yet and opted to keep most of the blankets still over Lucas's sleeping form.  
  
Lucas seemed to notice the presence in his room and the touch of Kristen's hand on his forehead. As she finished checking him over, he opened his eyes and made a brief attempt at a wan smile.  
  
"D-drink please," Lucas whispered, his voice sounding a little croaky and hoarse. Kristen complied with his request and brought a glass to his lips, allowing him to sip at the refreshing contents until he put his hand up signalling that he had his fill.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Kristen asked, knowing that Lucas was probably more interested in going back to sleep than answering any questions about how he felt.  
  
To her delight and surprise though the sleepy teenager managed to utter back an answer before drifting off into the land of nod again.  
  
"Warm," was the mumbled response and it was said with a slight smile on his face.  
  
********************************************  
  
By early next morning Shep was much more alert after a good night's rest. He was surprised to see a hive of activity in the living room with most of the senior crew gathered for the last minute instructions on the evacuation that was being prepared for in about 16 hours.  
  
Shep had informed Bridger about Lucas's assessment of most of the computer database being difficult and of very little value after leaving the depot.  
  
Although Bridger was a little disappointed that the carefully planned mission was quickly becoming tattered at the seams, he also knew that there was no blame that could be attributed to any one person.  
  
They seemed to have had problems of some sought from the minute they arrived. These problems rapidly gathered momentum and grew in number within just a few days.  
  
Bridger certainly knew that Lucas and Shep had tried to save as much information as possible from the computer banks. But if the information was useless, then he knew that there was little point in continuing with that exercise.  
  
Bridger looked a little tired first thing that morning as the crew left to carry out their various tasks. Kristen has noted the same but refrained from making any comment until the business end of things had been taken care of. "How is Lucas this morning?" Shep asked Kristen. He had wanted to go into the room when he first awoke this morning but had yet to do so.  
  
"He is already asking to see you," Kristen said as she saw the relief clearly visible on Shep's face.  
  
"Is he okay?" Shep asked before turning towards the room and going in.  
  
"Well his temperature seems back to normal. His voice is still rather hoarse and croaky so I don't know if he is coming down with a bout of influenza or a more serious complaint. But other than that he seems remarkably in good spirits," Kristen replied.  
  
"Does he know what happened yesterday?" Shep found himself asking.  
  
"Some, but not all of it. We haven't gone into the reasons of why he was in there yet," Kristen said.  
  
"I can talk to him if you like," Shep offered, seeing the unasked question in their facial expressions. "I will take it nice and slow at first," he added, trying to reassure them that he would not get Lucas all worked up about it so close to it happening.  
  
Shep left the conversation at that point and now entered Lucas's room to see how his friend was doing for himself.  
  
"Hey Shep," Lucas greeted his friend, in the voice that Kristen had mentioned.  
  
"Hey yourself," Shep answered in return. "Are you okay?" he then asked, taking up a seat on the chair he had been using the night before.  
  
"Yeah," Lucas replied, pulling the blankets up a little bit further on his chest. He was sitting up with his back against the wall the bed was on.  
  
For the first time that either of them could remember, they both seemed to have trouble finding the right words to say to each other.  
  
"Silly place to get myself locked into wasn't it? Lucas said poking fun at himself.  
  
Shep didn't respond right away. He looked a little nervously and awkwardly around the room, avoiding the one topic he didn't want to talk about with Lucas but knew he had no choice to.  
  
"Um Lucas.... there is something I need to tell you," Shep began, tumbling over the words as he went.  
  
"You know me and you have never had secrets from one another up until now," Shep said, beginning the conversation from a different angle.  
  
"And I don't want us to start now," Shep quickly added before Lucas could draw an inference from such as statement. "You look kinda tense Shep," Lucas now said honestly. Truth be known Shep was more serious than he had ever seen him. He didn't quite know how to take it or what Shep was trying and finding so hard to say.  
  
Shep now forced himself to take a deep breath. He wasn't going to beat about the bush any more....  
  
"Lucas what happened to you yesterday in the cold room was no accident," Shep said with barely a pause between any of the syllables.  
  
"I knew Ben would get me back somehow, guess he really did huh?" Lucas said with a false laugh. He was only hoping that Shep was trying to tell him that it had been a practical joke gone wrong.  
  
"Oh please don't think that Lucas and don't say anything to Ben because he already feels bad enough for both of you," Shep said.  
  
"It wasn't?" was all Lucas could find the courage to say in return.  
  
"I don't have any proof at this stage Lucas but I think Woodcock was somehow involved," Shep said and found a lump forming in his throat at such an open handed accusation against their former teacher.  
  
To his surprise though Lucas now held a thinking expression on his face instead of one of fear or anger.  
  
"Makes sense you know," Lucas commented casually with his mind still thinking away.  
  
"What does?" Shep asked, hardly believing that Lucas could remain so calm after what he had just been told.  
  
"Well I have been doing a little bit of delving into the source of the sabotage on the computer systems that I showed you. I came to the conclusion that the only benefit of doing something like that would be financial profit and the discrediting of others who worked here at the time it was happening," Lucas explained, letting Shep know what he was going to show him anyway before being locked in the cold room.  
  
Lucas was about to continue his explanation to Shep about what he thought had been going on at the depot for some considerable time. He stopped in mid-sentence as a small slip of paper was seen to be shoved under the room door.  
  
They were not aware that Bridger and Kristen had departed the quarters just a few minutes earlier to get some breakfast. Somebody else had noted their departure though and took the opportunity to put the next part of his plan into motion.  
  
Shep looked a little nervously at Lucas before getting off the chair and picking up the note. He was in time to hear the distinct sound of footsteps walking away. Whoever had delivered the message had been bold enough to stick around to make sure that he and Lucas knew it was there before leaving again. "What does it say?" Lucas asked as he watched Shep unfold the small piece of paper and read the contents to himself. Lucas felt a pang of fear hit him as Shep's face became slightly paler as he read the words written.  
  
"I-it s-says," Shep began, hardly knowing how to read aloud the words he saw. "It says that if we want to live, we are to being any and all of our notes and computer disks to the computer room within an hour."  
  
"Is that all it says," Lucas asked not really thinking about the words.  
  
"All it says," Shep scoffed, hardly able to think that what they had read was already enough to scare them.  
  
"Does it say who it is from?", but Lucas already knew the answer to that question. They had just been talking about the man before the note had been slipped under the door. Clearly he had been paying more attention to what Lucas and Shep were doing than the boys thought.  
  
Lucas felt incredibly guilty because although he knew the identity of the saboteur and had evidence to back up his claims. For the most part he had acted alone, only showing Shep initially when the backup looked strange and just now as they discussed the threat upon Lucas by locking him in the cold room.  
  
"What are we going to do Lucas?" Shep asked.  
  
"Well I don't know what you think, but despite that note, I think we need to expose him for the fraudster that he is and let everybody else see what he has been up to all this time, including the authorities. That way he won't be able to relocate to another depot like this after we leave and start all over again," Lucas replied.  
  
When Lucas looked at Shep's face, he could see a conflict waging within his friend. Somehow he knew that Shep felt threatened by this man, even more so than himself. But why he asked himself silently until the answer hit him.  
  
"What did he say to you?" Lucas now asked Shep directly. There was only one explanation as to why Shep felt so threatened and that had to be that Woodcock had actually done so to his friend without anybody else knowing.  
  
"H-how, no he didn't," Shep began to say but knew that he had already gave away the truth and not wanting to lie to Lucas anymore.  
  
"What did he say?" Lucas still wanted to know, not blaming his friend, but determined that Woodcock wasn't going to get away with standing over Shep and letting the boy feel that he couldn't tell anybody else about the threats.  
  
"The other day after the meeting," Shep said, lowering his head as well as his voice in shame that he hadn't been totally honest with Lucas from the start. "I still don't think we should go against him though," he added, trying to get around coming right out and repeating the threats the teacher had made about Lucas.  
  
"What is he holding over you to say that Shep?" Lucas now wanted to know. "You have always said that people who do wrong should get what is coming to them. What did he threaten to do to you if you told somebody. If you didn't come to me as a friend, you could have gone to the Captain or Kristen. Anyone of the crew would have listened to you Shep."  
  
"I couldn't go to the Captain or anybody else for that matter Lucas, because if I did....." Shep said, leaving the sentence unfinished.  
  
"If you did what?" Lucas said and also stopped mid-sentence as he looked at his friend and the real reason for his friend's secret struck him.  
  
As if to confirm what Lucas already thought Shep answered the question "You. Woodcock told me that things could happen to people who didn't keep their noses out of other people's business."  
  
"And he said that something would happen to me if you said something to anybody else about the threats," Lucas now said, trying to work out the full extent of what Woodcock said.  
  
"But it did happen Lucas, don't you understand," Shep said, his eyes welling up at the guilt that had suddenly returned with force that he had not had the guts enough to prevent Lucas being the target. "He said that and then you went missing. We looked everywhere for you. I was going out of my mind with panic because I knew he had done something but I still couldn't tell anybody."  
  
"I still say we have to bring him out in the open to let others see him for the creep he is," Lucas said, a little scared about what might happen if they challenged Woodcock again but determined not ignore what he had been doing illegally. It seemed that Woodcock had changed from the cynical and bitter teacher that they had come to know in college and crossed the line to add criminal activity and bully to his list of character references.  
  
"You still want to do that even after all that has happened?" Shep asked, unable to hide the scepticism that he clearly felt.  
  
"I still want to do that," Lucas said in a determined voice and put his hand on Shep's shoulder to strength the bond of friendship that they held. "Are you with me?" he asked. He would think no less of his friend if he still didn't want any part of it.  
  
Shep however, was willing to back Lucas 100% of the way with whatever plan they could come up with for nailing Woodcock. A great burden had been lifted from his shoulders as a result of his admission of the threats and what he knew. They would solve this problem together.  
  
A few minutes later, despite Kristen's advice that Lucas was to remain resting in bed for as long as possible until they were almost ready to leave the depot, the two teenage boys were putting their plan together for when they met with Woodcock.  
  
Lucas had explained to Shep that the only way to get people to understand what had been happening was to get Woodcock to make a confession of his actions or at least admit to his involvement in the tampering of computer records for his own benefit.  
  
Shep had raised the idea of just showing somebody like the Captain and Kristen the computer disks that Lucas had already made and avoid the possibility of a conflict altogether.  
  
Lucas said that he didn't really have a lot of information stored yet to point the finger at Woodcock. He had only been part of the way through recording the data that would incriminate the former teacher. Plus the data that was being recorded would not look as though it had been altered to the untrained eye. It had taken somebody with Lucas's considerable talent and skill to pick it up in the first place. Another reason why they had to try and exact an admission from Woodcock.  
  
Lucas had quickly wired together a small recording device which he then taped securely and invisibly underneath his clothing. Woodcock shouldn't be able to pick up that his every word was being secretly recorded for later examination and production to the authorities about his illegal activities. Lucas and Shep planned to hand over what appeared to be the computer disks he had made to date. In actual fact they were only substitutions that held no information at all.  
  
They both knew they were taking a large risk in exposing Woodcock in this manner, but they also knew that there would be no conclusive evidence of the man being responsible to any wrong doing unless he actually admitted to it.  
  
As a precaution to what might unfold, Lucas quickly scribbled a note and left it in plain view on a table in the front room. It was very basic and to the point:  
  
NEED HELP - COME TO THE COMPUTER ROOM - HURRY  
  
The hour time limit was almost up when Shep was seen to peak his head outside the door of their living quarters and see if the coast was clear along the corridor. They didn't need Captain Bridger or Kristen or indeed any other member of the SeaQuest crew coming along and asking awkward questions about what they were doing.  
  
Lucas was supposed to be in bed resting and everyone knew that. Kristen would be very hard to convince that what they were doing was important enough for him to be out of bed when she had said otherwise. He just had to hope that everything went smoothly and according to plan and then if absolutely necessary he could add a touch of acting like he was suffering again.  
  
The Kristen was a woman and most of them were suckers for people they cared about feeling sick or injured. Lord knows that she had fussed over Lucas enough when he had been genuinely sick or hurt. He just had to add a few more groans to his voice when they got back to the room and she would be too worried about him to be cross at him for being out of bed. That was his theory for now anyway.  
  
Lucas was a little bit more lethargic than he would have like to admit today but somehow he and Shep managed to make it undetected from their room all the way towards the computer room.  
  
Just before they entered the hallway, Lucas make a final check of his equipment to make sure it was working correctly. They would not be able to adjust anything once the transfer was underway. Shep was carrying the blank computer disks and a few pages of hand-written noted Lucas had scrawled.  
  
Both of them were unaware of what Woodcock had been contemplating for most of the night and morning. He too was afforded little sleep after he saw the SeaQuest crew rescuing Lucas from the cold room. He knew that the crew would be leaving the depot the next day and that he couldn't afford for the two teenagers to have copies of any of the data that they had recorded. He had worked too hard to try and conceal his true activities up until now for these two upstarts to come back and cause him to caught out.  
  
Woodcock had told himself that all he needed to do was get hold of all the material the two boys had in relation to the computer banks for the depot. He knew that Lucas was the more knowledgeable of the two and he had been the one to discover what had been going on in the first place. That is why he had been the main target in the first place. The teacher had hoped that the cold room would be enough to put a stop to their meddling in his affairs.  
  
When it became clear that the boy was still alive, and for the most part unharmed, that he would need to take a stronger hand into the matter. He thought he had done well enough to scare the Shepherd boy with the threats but he still couldn't be certain that the Wolenczak kid would remain silent.  
  
When he arrived at the computer room that morning ready to exchange the computer disks as he instructed, he had convinced himself that he was also ready to take a step across the line of what was right and if necessary prevent the boys from ever revealing anything about the information they had knowledge of.  
  
Whilst Lucas had a recording device concealed underneath his clothes, Woodcock on the other hand also concealed something from the two teenagers. His secret was of a much more deadly intent in the form of a hand held pistol.  
  
********************************************************  
  
About the same time that Lucas and Shep were standing in the same room as their former teacher Woodcock, Bridger and Kristen were only just discovering about their disappearance from the suite.  
  
Kristen went straight into Lucas's room, expecting that the teenager would at least be where she told him to be.  
  
"Nathan they are not here," she said, a little demanding in her voice about why the two boys would openly defy an instruction about the importance of Lucas resting.  
  
Her temper quickly dissipated though when she saw Bridger pick up a note he had found laying on the table. Neither of them had seen it when they first walked into the room.  
  
Bridger looked at the brief words scrawled on the piece of paper and then held it up for Kristen to read.  
  
"Come on," Bridger said as he exited the room and headed down the corridor. He wasn't running but walking very quickly, all sorts of ideas running through his head about why Lucas would write such a message.  
  
Just as they rounded the final hallway towards the computer room, they could hear an argument coming from down the far end. They couldn't have missed it and neither could anybody else that was in the nearby vicinity. Voices were clearly very loud and in a very threatening tone.  
  
Bridger could hear Lucas's voice as well as that of Shep's but they were being drowned out by another deeper angry male voice.  
  
Before Bridger and Kristen could take another step forward, all of the shouting seemed to stop dramatically. A few seconds later they both felt the blood drain from their faces as they heard the distinct sound of two gun shots being fired.  
  
Then there was nothing but deafening silence........  
  
TO BE CONTINUED........  
  
Yeah I know, you all hate me and you are going to hate me even more in the next chapter. Some of you might have worked out what is going to happen, others may not. The next chapter won't be as long but should pack a definite punch.  
  
Sorry so long to update - I don't know if this is even going to upload properly - having major computer problems and might be the end of next week before they are fixed and you finally get to see the end and conclusion of this story.  
  
Almost there.  
  
JULES 


	7. CHAPTER 7

THE FRIENDSHIP  
  
Before the gunshot.........  
  
Lucas and Shep had made their way along the corridors towards the main frame room. Shep was carrying the collection of recorded disks.  
  
Lucas was surprised about how tired he had become after leaving his room just a few minutes ago. When he had gotten out of bed, his body had given him a false sense of how good he felt. It had only taken walking along to the end of the first corridor for that false to quickly wan and the ache from his muscles in his arms and legs to remind him otherwise.  
  
He was beginning to understand why Kristen had given him strict instructions about staying in bed and resting as much as possible.  
  
Shep at one point had cursed at himself for letting his best friend talk to him into something like this. The fact that Lucas had to stop on two separate occasions and leant against a wall while he waited for the ache to subside, only affirmed his scolding.  
  
"We can go back Lucas," Shep said as he put a supporting hand on his friend's shoulder.  
  
"No we can't Shep. We're in this too deep to try and turn back now," Lucas said, his voice sounding a little hoarse once again.  
  
"But you shouldn't be out of bed yet Lucas. Kristen said you needed to give your body a chance to recover after being so cold," Shep said, trying to use Lucas's health as a way of getting out of their current situation.  
  
"There had to be another way for us to nail Woodcock Lucas," Shep said as he tried to think of a way around.  
  
"There is no other way Shep. If you don't want to do it, I will just have to do it by myself," Lucas replied with an air of determination.  
  
Shep was forced to think back to the conversation he and Lucas had not too long ago where he had sworn that whatever they did, it would be together. Apprehensive he might be, but he wasn't about to let his friend walk into the lion's den on his own.  
  
"We are in this together, no matter what happens," Shep reaffirmed. "Come on, lets get this over with."  
  
"Thanks Shep," Lucas said with a genuine smile of gratitude.  
  
The two teenage friends now continued their way down the corridor.  
  
Shep walked into the main frame room ahead of Lucas. He placed the disks on a table he was standing next to and then proceeded to look around the room in search of the person who had summonsed them to appear.  
  
"Doesn't look like he is here yet," Shep said as Lucas now walked through the door and over to where his friend was.  
  
A voice from the shadows startled them both. "On the contrary Mr Shepherd and Mr Wolenczak, I have been waiting for you to arrive," Woodcock said.  
  
The former teacher took a few steps forward, allowing the fluorescent light to illuminate his position. He was standing behind one of the computer consoles. Woodcock concealed the weapon he carried in the pocket of his jacket.  
  
Lucas and Shep both took a step backwards as Woodcock approached them. Woodcock now spied the disks resting on the table.  
  
He smiled slyly to himself at the fear and apprehension he could see in the teenager's eyes as he ran his hands over the disks and then picked them up to inspect the contents and validity.  
  
"You got what you wanted now Woodcock," Lucas said, gathering a little courage in his voice.  
  
"Almost Mr Wolenczak, almost," Woodcock uttered ominously.  
  
"What else is there?" Shep demanded, a little edge creeping into his words, more out of fear about what might happen next than anything else.  
  
"Eliminate the witnesses of course Mr Shepherd," Woodcock replied plainly. "What good is having only the information about my activities when you two meddlers are still around?"  
  
"But what you were doing was wrong Woodcock," Lucas said, truly afraid of what the man's interpretation of the word "elimination" might have in store for him and Shep.  
  
"My plan was working just fine until you started snooping around in places you shouldn't have been," Woodcock snapped back.  
  
"What you were doing was hurting an innocent group of people over a long time without them knowing about it and then planned to turn that greed to your advantage," Lucas said as he brought out the true implications of what the teacher had done.  
  
"You always were too smart for your own good Lucas Wolenczak," Woodcock shot back at the youth. "But you never did figure out that it was your father's money that financed my activities."  
  
"Doesn't surprise me though," Lucas retorted with no emotion in his voice at all.  
  
"Maybe not, but did he ever tell you that he also paid me to keep quiet about the beatings he used to give you?" Woodcock asked, knowing that little piece of information would hit the teenager like a bombshell.  
  
Lucas couldn't find any words to reply as he felt as though somebody had just punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.  
  
Shep could see the devastating effect such a statement had as Lucas took a step back away from his tormentor.  
  
Shep was currently distracted by Lucas and he was too caught up by haunting memories from the past. Neither of them could see Woodcock reaching into his pocket and revealing the pistol. The weapon was now held out in full view and pointed directly at Lucas and Shep.  
  
Shep was the first to look up and see the immediate peril that he and Lucas faced.  
  
"Is this your solution....... to kill us now?" Shep asked nervously, pausing half way to swallow the lump of dread that was lodged in his throat.  
  
"There are other people nearby that will hear us," Lucas said as he cautiously tried looking towards the doorway that they had come through. "You won't get away with this," he added.  
  
"But by the time they do hear the shots Mr Wolenczak, you and your young friend will be dead," Woodcock said in a cold voice.  
  
Lucas found himself looking back at someone who disliked him and Shep from the moment they had walked through his classroom door. By now it was apparent that this former teacher was prepared to cross the line in order to hide his criminal activity.  
  
"Who wants to go first?" Woodcock asked in a chilling manner. He was determined to do whatever he had to in order to conceal the fraud and dishonesty that he had committed.  
  
Little by little Shep and Lucas were backing away from their would-be killer. Maybe luck would be on their side and they would find a piece of furniture to shield themselves behind before help could arrive.  
  
"You don't have to do this," Lucas said as he tired to get Woodcock to lower the gun. Their progress to get away suddenly came to an abrupt halt when Lucas felt himself up against a wall.  
  
"Oh but I do," Woodcock said whilst inwardly reminding himself that he wouldn't be able to take too much more time with this. It had to end quickly and it had to end now.!  
  
Shep could see by the way Woodcock was pointing the gun that the teacher intended to shoot Lucas first. Afraid as he was for his own safety, something stirred within him that said he had to try and save his friend Lucas from a fate that neither of them deserved.  
  
A look of fear ran across Lucas's face as he saw Woodcock pull the trigger and fire the gun for the first time. Everything after that moment seemed to happen in slow motion.  
  
Lucas's eyes remained fixated on the barrel of the gun and the projectile that had been propelled from it and now hurtled towards his unprotected body.  
  
Lucas tried his best and willed himself to move as quickly as he could out of the way but somehow knew that even those efforts would be in vain.  
  
He squeezed his eyes shut and waited that split second until death struck him full force and everything came to a sudden end.  
  
But the sound that he heard wasn't that of his own life being taken. He heard the bullet strike something like flesh and the cry of anguish and pain that followed.  
  
Something wasn't right though, the cry wasn't from his own lips. He opened his eyes to see what was going on and unfortunately was just in time to take the full weight of Shep's falling body as it fell against him.  
  
"SHEP !!!!!!!!" Lucas cried out in disbelief as he gently began lowering his friend's body to the floor.  
  
Blood was everywhere. At first it was hard to tell where the bullet had struck there was so much. Lucas's mind was almost on the verge of a full panic attack at what he saw before him.  
  
Lucas could now see that the bullet from Woodcock's gun had hit Shep high in the chest.  
  
Shep didn't have the strength at the moment to talk as the pain lacing through his body sapped him of energy. All he could do was utter a pitiful moan and gasp out loud as the fire of pain inside him seemed to grow and steadily get worse.  
  
"Don't move Shep, Kristen will be here in a minute and she will be able to fix you up," Lucas said trying to get his friend to hold onto any shred of hope that he had.  
  
"Don't cry over your friend too long Mr Wolenczak," Woodcock said as he watched the scene before him with indifference. "You will soon be joining him," and with that statement, prepared to re-fire his weapon.  
  
Lucas's sense of fear got the better of him as he knelt beside his injured friend and he got to his feet and tried to run from his attacker as Woodcock pointed the gun at him.  
  
In his haste to get away, Lucas wasn't aware that the direction he was trying to run in was impassable. It was too late and he found himself trapped and no way of dodging what was inevitable.  
  
Lucas reached out and aimlessly, trying to find something he could throw at Woodcock that might distract him or accidentally knock the gun out of his hand. Anything to buy a few more seconds of life for him.  
  
His hand found a small paperweight on a shelf beside him. Lucas wasted no time in throwing it as hard as he could at the teacher.  
  
Again everything happened as if it was frame by frame. The weight left Lucas's hand and travelled simultaneously as the second bullet was fired from Woodcock's gun.  
  
The paperweight seemed to hit the top of Woodcock's right hand just as the projectile left the barrel of the hand gun. The knock seemed sufficient enough for the teacher's aim to alter a few hair's width from it's original position.  
  
The bullet lost none of it's impact as it struck Lucas. His breath was ripped from his lungs and the teenager was driven back against the wall behind him.  
  
Like Shep, he too had no words. He tried to mouth the scream that he felt inside, but could only utter a similar animalistic, guttural type moan as his friend.  
  
The world around him seemed a little fuzzy and hard to focus on. Lucas placed his hand over the area where the pain was the most intense.  
  
Before, his hands had been stained maroon with Shep's dried blood but now as he brought them away from the wound, they were stained crimson with his own fresh blood.  
  
The energy and strength in his legs seemed to seep out slowly rather than all at once. Lucas felt the blood flow freely from his gun shot wound, the energy ebbed away silently. There was nothing he could do to stop himself falling as he slowly collapsed down the wall.  
  
To his knees, and then all of his life force seemed to drain away and Lucas fell face first onto the computer room floor. He had already lost all consciousness and now the blond locks of his hair completely fell over his face, hiding the pale complexion and the pain lines still etched on his face.  
  
Woodcock now looked upon the two unmoving bodies before him. He knew what must be done next. He had prepared himself for this and from the very beginning knew that if it came to eliminating the two teenagers, then he too would have to pay the ultimate price.  
  
Woodcock decided though that his demise would come in a place of his choosing and so he now headed towards the opposite doorway leading from the room. The corridor he entered would take him to a more secluded area of the munitions depot where very few other personnel went to.  
  
He had taken the cheats way out and branded himself as a coward by shooting the two teenagers but he didn't care how the rest of the outside world saw him. There was a third shot fired from the gun, but it's sound was not heard by any of the SeaQuest crew or anybody else on the depot at that time.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
Shep was laying a few feet from where he could see his friend Lucas. He had tried desperately a number of times to try and inch his way closer to see if he still lived but the wound he had suffered only sent waves of pain with each fraction of movement.  
  
It was right about this moment that Shep could hear footsteps running towards him. Obviously somebody had heard the two gun shots and he was more than grateful to see Kristen and Bridger coming through the doorway.  
  
(Author's note - you just have to suspend rational thinking for a moment and believe that although Kristen and Bridger hurried when they heard the two gun shots - they hurried very slowly in order for all the other events to happen in between !!!)  
  
Kristen stopped beside Shep, scarcely able to believe the sight that lay before them. She couldn't worry about the reasons why they had been shot right now. There would be time for questions later on.  
  
Commander Ford and a few others had arrived not a few seconds later. She send them back to get her medical bag and anything else that she might need to help the two injured teenagers. Like her they too knew there would be a time for questions about what had happened at a later date.  
  
For the moment that only left Kristen and Bridger in the room to attend to Shep and Lucas. She needed to assess which boy needed the most treatment.  
  
Even with all her medical training Kristen had a grim look on her face as she tenderly tried to look at the entry point of Shep's gun shot wound. It was high in the chest and as she pressed her ear to his chest, she could hear a slight gurgling sound in addition to the shallow breathing. The boy's lung were filling with fluid. Whether it was blood she wasn't able to tell at this point in time.  
  
"He's very bad off Nathan," Kristen whispered trying not to let the tears forming fall down her face. "Even if we move him quickly enough, I don't know if we would be able stop the bleeding in time. We don't have the facilities here on the depot to cope with such a major operation and I don't think we have enough time on our hands to get back to the SeaQuest."  
  
Nathan nodded at her explanation. He could see Shep's eyes were opened slightly but a little glazed from the pain he was feeling. How much of that conversation he had overheard the Captain couldn't be sure of. His eyes were unfocused and whether or not he could sense their presence in order to help him they couldn't tell.  
  
"Let's check Lucas before the others get back," Kristen said as she removed her jacket and placed it as a cushion underneath Shep's head. The youth was in an awful amount of pain from the look on his face but he seemed to be still alive at this stage.  
  
Bridger turned to see Lucas's fallen body a few feet to his left. As he stood and walked towards the unmoving teenager, he found himself pausing slightly. He didn't know if he wanted to do this. If Lucas was already dead, was he prepared to turn the boy over and look into his face shrouded in death. He had gone through that once already with the death of his wife Carol. He didn't know if he had the strength to do it again and especially since it was Lucas laying there.  
  
"Oh no Lucas not you," Bridger said out aloud to himself as he finally forced himself to kneel beside the inert teenager. He placed his hand on the boy's left shoulder and prepared to turn him over to get a look at the wound he had suffered.  
  
Kristen was near Bridger but she too feared about what would happen to Nathan if Lucas was already gone.  
  
Bridger knew there was no other choice. They had to find out about Lucas and then try and get back as quickly to Shep who was also near death and relying on them to help him.  
  
Bridger felt as though something had stabbed him through the heart with a knife and was now slowly, very slowly pulling the blade back out again. He was almost too afraid to release the breath he had been holding in.  
  
To both of them came amazement though as the Captain gently turned Lucas's unconscious body towards him, the teenager let out a dreadful moan at the pain that was reignited from the sudden movement.  
  
Bridger and Kristen both looked up each other and felt like jumping for joy at such a sound. They both knew that it was the best sound that they could have heard right at that very moment.  
  
The Captain now laid Lucas on his back so that Kristen could take a better look at his wound. She noted that it seemed to be in a more meatier part of Lucas's shoulder. There had been a significant amount of blood loss but his breathing although shallow and laboured, didn't have the gurgling sound that been heard in Shep's lungs.  
  
It was right about that moment that Commander Ford and Ben Krieg came bustling back into the computer room laden with Kristen's medical bag and bandages.  
  
"Commander, you and Mr Krieg attend to Lucas. Use one of those towels you are holding over the wound and try and slow the bleeding. If the towel becomes too soaked, don't remove it place a fresh one over the top and keep the pressure firm and even. It might hurt Lucas some from the pain and he might cry out for you to stop but under no circumstances are you to do so until I tell you to," Kristen said as she went into doctor mode.  
  
"Nathan I know you want to be with Lucas but I really need you over here to help me with Shep," Kristen said, gently as she could. She knew that it would take a lot of convincing to get Bridger to leave Lucas when he was so badly injured.  
  
Reluctantly though Kristen words seemed to filter through Bridger's brain and he knew that Kristen wouldn't ask for his help at such a time if it wasn't absolutely necessary.  
  
"Okay tell me what to do," Bridger replied. He waited until Commander Ford was close enough to take his place and support Lucas's head and shoulders while Ben held the towel over the gun shot wound. The stoic look on their faces said it all. Neither of them could believe what they were witnessing but they were not about to let either boy down when they depended so much upon them.  
  
By now a few other crew members had arrived on the scene, but a quick wave of Kristen's hand as she leant over Shep told them to hold back in case they were needed to relieve Ben or Jonathan later on. They didn't know how long they were going to be before they could stabilise the teenagers in order to move them to more appropriate medical facilities. Too many hands may be more of a hindrance than a help at this point in time.  
  
"Lieutenant O'Neill take a few others with you down some of these corridors and see if you can find any sign of who might have done this," Bridger now instructed the bystanders. At least it would give them something to do.  
  
"W...Woodcock..." came the exhausted whisper from Shep's lips, barely able to be heard over Shep's laboured breathing.  
  
"See if you can find this Woodcock guy then," Bridger as the injured teenager named his assailant.  
  
Tim O'Neill took Miguel Ortiz and Katie Hitchcock with him to search the maze of nearby corridors as requested. All of them held grave fears for the safety of Lucas and his friend, they were grateful for the opportunity not to see the sight of their blood or hear their moans of pain. They would find this Woodcock guy and kick the living daylights out of him for the two boys before delivering him to the appropriate authorities.  
  
Kristen was concentrating on trying to stop the bleeding from Shep's wound when the teenager tried to talk to her and Bridger. At first she didn't think he was being coherent and that he was just havering as a result of the pain medication she had just administered to him. She quickly went over to Lucas and also gave him an injection of 5ml, not wanting to overdo it until they could be stabilized a little more.  
  
While Kristen knelt beside Lucas, Shep stared back up at Bridger and repeated the words he had uttered. Somehow Shep knew that his time on this earth was growing short. He had overheard enough of Kristen's diagnosis about Lucas to know that his friend was in much better condition.  
  
"Don't let him grieve too long for me," Shep now said, making sure that he held Bridger's full attention as he spoke his final words.  
  
"Tell him that no matter what we will be friends forever, even after I am gone."  
  
Bridger wanted to tell the teenager that everything would be alright and that he too would be fine once they got him patched up. Instead though all he could do was look down at the mortally wounded boy with tears rimming in his eyes.  
  
"Promise you will continue to be his friend for me," Shep said as his voice began to fade away.  
  
"I promise."  
  
"Kristen I think you need to get over here in a hurry," Bridger now shouted in alarm as the look of pain began fading from Shep's face.  
  
But by the time she appeared back at the Captain's side, both of them knew it was too late. Shep's face now held no look of pain and all lines had been erased and he almost looked untouched.  
  
She held a hand to the artery in his neck to check for a pulse. There was none. When she leant over his face and place her ear near his mouth and nose, she could no longer hear any breathing. His chest now failed to raise or fall at all with rhythmic breaths from his lungs.  
  
"He's gone," Kristen said as her own tears washed down her face.  
  
Jonathan Ford and Ben Krieg both looked at each other and could scarcely believe what the doctor had just said. It didn't seem to make any sense at first. How could he be dead. He was just alive wasn't he? Injured maybe and badly so from all the information, but he was still a living person. Now they were being told that he was dead.  
  
How could somebody's life just ebb away in just such a short space of time? Nobody in the room seemed to have the answers to any of the questions that they wanted to ask.  
  
Tim O'Neill and his party had just come back into the room and immediately they noticed the wall of silence that seemed to be building. They saw the tears running down the faces of their friends and the painful looks on the faces of Commander Ford and Ben Krieg.  
  
"Shep has passed away," Kristen said in a soft voice not daring to say anymore.  
  
Tim and Miguel just stood shocked and stunned as Katie buried her hands in her face and wept for somebody they had just come to know. Shep had seemed so full of life and so willing to help others, much like Lucas. Now he was dead.  
  
"We found the teacher down one of the far corridors," Tim O'Neill now said, not really knowing why he was now sharing the piece of information he had. After what they had just been told it seemed to be of little consequence. "He has shot himself. Probably the same gun he used to shoot Shep and Lucas."  
  
"Thank you Mr O'Neill," Bridger answered, not really caring what had happened to the teacher.  
  
All of them seemed to be lost in their own little worlds of grief for a few seconds until they were brought back to reality when Lucas moaned low and long from the pain he was still feeling. The pain medication had been of little benefit up until this point.  
  
"We have to get him back to the SeaQuest so I can perform surgery and get that bullet out as quickly as possible," Kristen said, temporarily forgetting about how she felt. As a doctor she would have to put personal feelings aside for the time being and concentrate on saving Lucas first.  
  
"Krieg you and Nathan carry Lucas as gently but as quickly as you can back to the air lock. Katie, you go with them in case they have a problem with the air lock. Tim and Miguel, I ask a very difficult task of both of you in carrying Shep's body back to the SeaQuest so that we can contact his family and organize for a funeral at a later date," Kristen said, running through the list of things to do in her head.  
  
"Commander do you think you have enough other leaders left on the depot to get the rest of the people out of here without us?" Bridger now asked. They still needed to make sure that the other people on the depot were also kept safe and attended to.  
  
"I'll take care of it Captain," Ford said seeing the sadness in his Commanding Officer's eyes. He knew that the most difficult task of all was yet to come for the Captain: to tell Lucas that his best friend had died. Jonathan wasn't at all sure how either of them would cope over the coming weeks. He needed to take on whatever leadership role was demanded of him during that time.  
  
Skipping ahead a little until after surgery on board SeaQuest.......  
  
"How is he?" Bridger said as he rose to greet Kristen as she emerged from the operating theatre. She looked tired and haggard. Fatigue had allowed her to age almost over night. Bridger knew that those years would be lost once Kristen had a chance to get some decent rest again.  
  
Bridger didn't dare look into a mirror at the moment for fear of what he might see. He didn't know if he looked very aged at the moment, but he sure felt 10 years older. He too had had little sleep since bringing Lucas back aboard the boat. Short dozes on a chair whilst waiting for news of Lucas's condition was all he had managed so far.  
  
Jonathan Ford had been true to his word and had even contacted Admiral Noyce to enable another sub to be arranged to take the residents away safety from the depot without disturbing the sombre mood aboard the SeaQuest at the moment.  
  
Noyce had displayed shock and horror of his own at the news that Joshua Shepherd had died at the hands of Woodcock and that Lucas had also suffered a gunshot wound and had to undergo surgery. He promised to contact Nathan to see if he needed anything after some time had passed.  
  
"Luckily the bullet didn't go into deeply into his shoulder," Kristen explained, removing her latex gloves and the surgical apron that was splattered with Lucas's blood. "It tore up quite a lot of muscle and tissue but missed anything vital and his shoulder blade. He is going to be very sore for quite a while to come and won't have the full use of his arm again for a number of weeks.," she continued.  
  
Bridger didn't have any other way of asking this question right at the moment, "How do we tell him Kristen?" she said and sat back down on a chair with the reality of what he had to do once Lucas had recovered enough from the surgery.  
  
"It is going to be terribly difficult Nathan I know, but we have to be totally honest with him from the beginning. That boy doesn't deserve the pain that he is going to experience but he has to know," Kristen said as she sat beside Nathan, combining what little strength they had together and supporting each other.  
  
Shep's body had been treated with the utmost respect. Noyce had offered to pay for the funeral due to the boy not having any immediate family to come forth and claim him. Bridger however wouldn't hear of it and paid for it himself, making all the arrangements as best he could until final decisions could be discussed with Lucas.  
  
The whole idea about the U.E.O. paying for the funeral after having to admit making a mistake about sending the two boys to such a place to begin with just reeked of bureaucracy trying to cover it's own butt in red tape.  
  
Once surgery was complete, Lucas was taken back to the Med-Bay and made more comfortable. His shoulder was bandaged down to his waist and padded thickly to compensate for any unexpected movement. The anaesthetic he had been given would keep him sedated for quite a number of hours, allowing his body to recover some of the initial strength he had lost through the bleeding.  
  
Nathan sat on a more comfortable chair and dozed intermittently while waiting for the boy to awaken. The crew that had remained had tried to get him to rest in his own bed, but he wouldn't hear of it and had compromised with the chair.  
  
Kristen was now resting too but knew when the time came that Nathan and Lucas needed to be alone for the devastating news that the youth needed to be told.  
  
Nathan awoke with a sudden start, unaware of what had caused him to do so. He was just about to nod back to sleep when he spotted Lucas laying on his good shoulder. The boy's eyes were open but they were fixated on somewhere else in the room. Lucas had trouble not wanting to meet the Captain's eyes for fear of what he might see.  
  
"Shep didn't make it did he?" Lucas asked in a very low voice, keeping his eyes on the wall across the room. Somehow he already knew the truth about what had happened to Shep. He just had trouble accepting it to be real.  
  
"I am sorry Lucas," Bridger said, stumbling over his tongue and not really knowing what to say.  
  
When somebody close to you died, there was just this emptiness inside that consumed you. Sometimes it kept on consuming you until you didn't know who you were anymore. That had almost happened to Bridger when Robert had died and then his wife Carol.  
  
He had been saved from his own self-destruction by one thing and that was the youth that was laying in bed before him now. Lucas's ability to somehow work his way into Bridger's heart had stopped Nathan falling into the cataclysm of non-existence and made him see the value in cherishing what you had for as long as possible.  
  
"Why?" Lucas now asked. By now Bridger had expected the boy to be heaving with sobs of grief over the loss of his best friend. The fact that Lucas's expression still remained unchanged made him worry more about how Shep's death would affect the teenager.  
  
"I wish I had the answers Lucas, but I don't know why," Bridger said, remembering Kristen's words about being totally honest.  
  
"You know what Woodcock said to me back there before he shot us?" Lucas asked. It seemed even though he had been seriously injured, the events of what had happened directly before were still very fresh in his mind.  
  
"What did he say?" Bridger replied in question, wanting to know everything about how the boy was feeling and anything he had to say at this point in time.  
  
Lucas gave a small fake laugh as he said the next series of words. "He said that my father had paid him to keep quiet about the beatings." After the sentence he remained silent. It was like a bad joke that had left an after taste in his mouth.  
  
It was after that comment that the emotional tide Lucas had been riding came to an abrupt end. He could no longer hold back the hurt and grief that he was feeling inside. He laid his head on his arm and let the tears start. After a few moments, the tears became harder and harder until his shoulder began to ache from the sobs that coursed through him.  
  
Bridger made sure that through the whole process he was there for Lucas. He knew that there were some things that Shep had wanted to tell Lucas.  
  
"Shep told me to tell you not to grieve too long for him Lucas," Bridger said cautiously. Taking a punt he decided to add what few words of comfort of his own he could think of. "You need to make sure that you live your both for you and Shep. Go out and do all of the things that he would have wanted to do with you and have twice the amount of fun doing it, just for him."  
  
Lucas lifted his head up and listened the to words that Bridger spoke. Tears still ran down his face.  
  
"Friendship doesn't end with death Lucas. It just delays it for a little while," Bridger said, something similar to what he had said to himself after Carol had died. He too held onto the fierce hope that she and he would meet again one day. Maybe not today and probably not tomorrow, but their love would someday reunite them. Lucas needed to know that it was the same with his friendship with Shep.  
  
"You will always be friends, you have to believe in that." Bridger reaffirmed.  
  
Two weeks later at the funeral for Shep.................  
  
Bridger knew when he had awoken this morning that today would be one of the  
  
most emotionally draining days of Lucas's life. Today would be the day that they laid Shep to rest and said goodbye forever.  
  
Lucas had spoken to the Captain about the arrangements that he had already put partially into place about how the funeral was to be conducted. At the end of the day, Lucas decided that Shep wouldn't have liked pomp and ceremony. Instead he opted for a very low key affair with just a few members of the crew that had been especially invited and had come to know Shep the best during his brief stay aboard the SeaQuest.  
  
At the funeral, Lucas didn't wear a suit. Shep had never worn one in his life so Lucas wasn't going to start on this day. He wore a collared shirt and dress trousers and comfortable shoes. Something which Shep would have been happy enough to wear himself.  
  
Although a minister of the church was involved, they had made it clear to him that Shep had never really held any religious beliefs. Tim O'Neill had read a few appropriate psalms from the bible that he had hand chosen. A few encouraging words were spoken by the minister.  
  
By the end of it all, most of the crew had left Bridger and Lucas lone to complete the final acts of respect. They knew that Lucas would have wanted it that way. The crew walked to the cars that waited nearby in case they were needed. Ben Krieg was very sombre in mood, not a single word of fun to be heard from him on such an occasion. Kristen had tried to be strong as she could for Lucas, but she had grief of her own.  
  
Lucas seemed to be playing with an object in his pocket for the last few minutes. Bridger was totally unaware of what it was. He was too busying keeping a close eye on Lucas's face for any signs that the boy wasn't coping well.  
  
Shep's coffin had yet to be lowered and unbeknown to Bridger, Lucas had told the minister to give them just a bit longer for a particular reason.  
  
Lucas now revealed the small object he held in his hand and placed it on top of the oak stained coffin covered in floral tributes. It was the blue and chrome harmonica that Shep had been so proud to play for them often.  
  
"I never could play it anyway Shep, like you said, so it's better off with you," Lucas said in a tear-stained voice. He now gave a nod of his head and the signal to let the coffin slowly descend into the grave.  
  
At this point in time Lucas didn't know what life had in store for him next. He had been dealt so many bad hands during his life that he just took each day at a time now with no guarantees. He didn't have the answers to why he lived and why it had to be Shep that made the ultimate sacrifice.  
  
Although he would never admit it to the crew or Bridger, there had been one night back in the Med Bay during his recovery that he had prayed to God to allow things to be in reverse and he be the one being prepared for his funeral and Shep recovering after surgery. His prayer went unanswered.  
  
As Bridger and Lucas started to walk away from the grave towards the crew waiting by the cars, Lucas was sure he saw something that he could never explain.  
  
Maybe it was the sunlight shining at the wrong time of day or just a reflection of something that wasn't really there. Lucas couldn't be totally sure. When he looked at one of the older headstones a few metres away, he could have sworn that he had seen a pale figure of Shep happily sitting on the edge and playing away with his harmonica.  
  
He turned towards the front to where he was walking and looked back over his shoulder again, but the image was gone. Had he really seen Shep as a ghost or was it just the heaviness in his heart that wanted to see.  
  
"You okay?" Bridger asked, as Lucas looked over his shoulder. The boy's features were a littler paler than he would have liked. Possibly the boy was still feeling more discomfort from his shoulder wound than he would admit coupled with the emotional torment of the day.  
  
"Not right now...... but I will be," Lucas said in reply.  
  
He knew that there would be days ahead when he would miss Shep's voice and his antics. Or at night when he thought he heard Shep's voice.  
  
As Lucas and Bridger got into the cars ready to drive away, the pale figure stood beside a tree and watched them all leave...........  
  
Friendship a strongest bond that could never be severed by distance or space.  
  
THE END  
  
Okay - please don't hate me for ending it this way. When I first started this story, I had already planned to kill off whoever the new character was. I wasn't quite prepared to kill Lucas off in any of my stories and wanted to try and write about a special friendship between Lucas and somebody else.  
  
I am sorry for all those out there who grew fond of Shep. I don't intend to write too many more stories where I kill of characters - unless it is the baddies.  
  
I didn't spend a great amount of time in detail about the depot in this part but as you can see that it was only one part of a much more significant plot. I know that Woodcock probably didn't get what he deserved either.  
  
Hope you enjoy this part and the entire story - please let me know what you think even if you didn't like the ending. This is my first death scene so I didn't quite know what to write.  
  
An extra note - some of the other stories might be a little bit longer delayed - my computer is still playing up and needs to be rebuilt in a couple of weeks. It is a massive job but hopefully I won't loose any of the stories I have already half-finished.  
  
JULES 


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